57S WOODPECKER. 



the head is crimfon, fpotted with brown black : fides of the head 

 blackilh : on the lower jaw a fpot of red : the upper parts of the 

 body are of an olive green, towards the rump greatly verging to 

 yellow : quills dufky, fpotted with Whitiih ; the under parts 

 greenifh white, or very pale green : tail barred, dufky and 

 greenifh : all except the outer ones black at the end : legs 

 greenifh afh. 

 Female. The female differs from -the male in wanting the red mark on 



the lower jaw. Wittughby* fays, it lays five or fix eggs j which 

 Pennant f obferves alfo, and fays, that they are of a beautiful fe- 

 mi-tranfparent white. 



Thefe birds fometimes build in a hollow afp, or other tree, fifteen 

 or twenty feet from the ground. The male and female take it by 

 turns to bore through the living part of the wood, till they come 

 to the rotten part, wherein, after being hollowed out to a proper 

 depth, they lay their eggs J, which are generally five, and fome- 

 times fix || in number, greenifh, with fmall black fpots. The 

 young ones climb up and down the trees before they can fly. It 

 is worthy remark, to obferve with what nicety the holes of the 

 Woodpecker are made, as perfectly round as if made by the af- 

 liftance of a pair of compaffes. Nuthatches, Starlings, and Bats, 

 frequently build in thefe holes when deferted. 



* Orn. p. 136. 



t Br. Zool. p. 242. where fome pertinent obfervations on- thefe birds may be 

 found. Let the reader alio confult Ray on the Creation, p. 143. and Derham'i 

 Pbyjico-thecl. p. 193, 339, 342. 



I This is fometimes fo deep that they muft feed their young quite in the 

 dark ; for I have been told by one, that he was obliged to thruft his whole arm 

 to the moulder down the hollow of a tree, before he could reach the eggs. 



|| " I have feen fix young ones together in one neft." Will. orn. p. 136. 



10 Both, 



