THE SEARCHERS. 39 



grey. The female has the crown of the head spotted with white, instead of being yellow as in the 

 male. The length of this species is nine and its breadth fourteen inches ; the wing measures four 

 inches and three-quarters, and the tail three inches and three-quarters. 



It is at present undecided whether all such of these birds as inhabit Europe are to be regarded as 

 identical ; but if it be so the habitat of this species extends over a large portion of both the European 

 and Asiatic continents. In the northern parts of Europe it is met with in the course of its wanderings 

 as far north as sixty degrees north latitude, and is by no means rare ; in Scandinavia, Finland, and 

 Russia it is especially numerous, and in the country about the mouth of the Amoor is one of the 

 commonest of birds. North America also possesses a deceptively similar or identical species. 

 Everywhere it frequents well-wooded mountain regions, and closely resembles the Common Variegated 

 Woodpecker in all the various particulars of its habits, movements, and means of subsistence. It is 

 active and restless in its habits, and generally occupies the topmost branches of the trees. Its cry is 

 loud and shrill, somewhat resembling that of some small quadruped when in great pain. Towards 

 noon it is silent, and retires to rest in a quiet spot. Its rapid, gliding, and undulating tlight is always 

 accompanied by a succession of loud notes. The nest is usually from twenty to twenty-four inches 

 deep, and is bored in the trunk of a sound tree. One brood of four to six pure white eggs is laid in 

 the season. 



The GREEN WOODPECKERS {GecMus) are readily known by the large size of their elongate 

 body, their slightly conical and curved beak, and short powerful foot, furnished with four toes. The 

 wing, in which the fourth and fifth quills are the longest, is rounded at its extremity, the tongue is 

 of unusual length, and the plumage principally green, of a pale shade on the under side, and marked 

 with undulating lines ; the head is occasionally adorned with a brightly-coloured crest. 



THE GREEN WOODPECICER. 



The Green Woodpecker {Geciims viridis) is bright green on the upper portions of the body, 

 and pale greyish green on the under side ; the face is black, the top of the head and nape greyish blue, 

 shaded with bright red ; the wing is light yellow ; a line on the cheeks of the male is red, in the 

 female black. The quills are pale brownish black, spotted with yellowish or brownish white, and the 

 tail-feathers pale greyish green, striped with black. The eye is blueish white, the beak dull grey 

 tipped with black, and the foot greenish grey. The young are greyish green, spotted with white on 

 the mantle, and whitish grey spotted with black on the under side ; the eye is dark grey. The length 

 of this bird is twelve and its breadth twenty inches ; the wing measures seven and the tail four inches 

 and a half. 



The Green Woodpecker frequently seeks its insect food upon the ground. This species is met 

 with over the whole of Europe ; but though common in the wooded districts of England and 

 Scotland, it is very rare in Ireland. 



" Nature," says Mudie, in speaking of this species, " has appointed the Woodpeckers 

 conservators of the wood of old trees, furnished them admirably for their office, and so formed their 

 habits that an ancient tree is an Eden for them, fraught with safety, and redolent of fatness and plenty. 

 So exquisitely are they fitted for their ofhce that the several species vary in tint widi the general 

 colour of the trees that they select ; if they exhibit an alternation of green moss, yellow lichen, and 

 ruby-tinted cups, with here and there a spot of black, then this, the Green Woodpecker, comes in 

 charge ; but if they are covered with the black and white lichens of the Alpine forest, we may look 

 for the spotted race upon the bark. When the renovation of the spring begins to be felt through all 

 nature, the Woodpecker creeps from his hole and tries the trunk till he conies to a lioUow place, and 



