GBEY WOODPEGKEB. 71 



and disputed the rights of territorial ownership with the Green. A 

 terrible battle ensued, which ended in the death of the intruder." 



"Eor a number of years I have known a pair of Grey Woodpeckers 

 inhabit a large wood about two miles from my residence. They prefer 

 leafy trees to pines, and woods in grassy mountains well watered by 

 rivers have more charms for them than the hill-side or the mountain 

 forest." 



The Grey Woodpecker, like our own, loves to dwell where there 

 are plenty of old oaks, beeches, aspens, or elms standing out in their 

 own solitary and picturesque beauty. It will remain in the same 

 neighbourhood so long as it can obtain its favourite food — ants. When 

 they fail it takes its departure, and does not return. It is often seen 

 on or about old willow stumps near woods. It also comes into the 

 gardens of villages or towns in winter, but does not cling to buildings. 

 It remains, Naumann tells us, much longer, and is seen more frequently 

 on the ground than the Green Woodpecker, and when frightened from 

 thence, it will fly away and suspend itself from a high tree, or take 

 up its position on the top of the same, in which it differs considerably 

 from the Green. At night it takes refuge in the holes of trees, to 

 which it retires, like other Wood]peckers, with great caution in the 

 late twilight. 



Naumann tells us that the Grey Woodpecker is a lively, cheerful, 

 and impudent fellow; cautious and crafty withal, but not so shy as 

 P. viridis. It is very restless, and always either seeking its food, or 

 flying very adroitly among the trees. It rarely, however, taps upon 

 them like the "Woodpecker tapping" of our own country, but it has 

 equal skill in chiseling out holes for its nest or nightly habitation. 

 It is very quarrelsome and jealous about its food, and is not by any 

 means to be allured from this by any artificial knocking or "tree 

 tapping." It is less shy in the breeding season, and more frequently 

 seen on the tops of high trees than the other Woodpeckers, where it 

 sits crosswise, sunning and pluming itself, and making its whereabouts 

 easily discovered by its call. 



It flies like the Green species, and its voice is very much the samC;, 

 but rings in the ear more agreeably, while the tone is less shrill and 

 sharp. It is heard from March to June, especially in the pairing 

 season, and in the beautiful mornings of the bright sunny spring. The 

 note consists of a full-toned syllable, 'klii, klih, klih, klyh, klyh, kliik, 

 kliik, kliik, kliik,' sinking deeper each time, so that the end is much 

 fuller than the beginning thereof. The time is slower than that of the 

 Green Woodpecker, and the tone fuller and less sharp, and an obser- 

 vant ear can easily distinguish one from the other. The male sometimes 



