PiCID^E. 113 



Green Woodpecker. Gednus virklis (Linn.). 



[Woodwall, Woodawl, AVoodwalf, Woodmaul, Hoodall, Hoodwall, 

 Ooodall, Oodmall, Parrot Woodpecker : Bev.^ 



Resident, generall}' distributed and sometimes numerous. Breeds. 



Tiiere appears to be a considerable immigration of the Green Woodpecker 

 into the AVest of England in severe winters, as so man}- are killed at such 

 times. Its attractive plumage leads to its destruction by every gunner who 

 comes across it, and many are taken to the bird-stuff ers. We find that forty- 

 nine specimens were brought to Mr. Bolitho, of Plymouth, for preserva- 

 tion in twenty-oue years (1852-73). Mr. Gatcombe found it remarkably 

 numerous at the landslip at Dowlands, near Axmouth (in Utt.), and it 

 frequently visits seaside gardens at Budleigh Salterton in (|uest of ants. It 

 breeds in holes in old trees near Exeter, Kingsbridge, &c. Young birds 

 were unusually plentiful near Plymouth in July 1880, when many were 

 caught alive and others killed in various ways (J. G., Zool. 1881, p. 51). 



This species was unknown in the West of Cornwall until 1870 (Ptodd, 

 Zool. 1876, p. 479(5). 



This beautiful bird is common in all wooded parts of the county. 

 There is a general idea that it becomes very noisy before rain, hence it is 

 in some districts cnllcd Ilain-bird ; but in our experience it is always 

 clamorous, especially about the time when it is feeding its young brood, 

 and when these first emerge from the nest, and we have long ceased to 

 regard its cry as a weather sign. Its food consists of insects, which it 

 searches for on the limbs of trees, commencing its inspection at the 

 bottom of tlie trunk and ascending upwards in a spiral, grasping the bark 

 with its strong feet and pointed claws, pressins close against the troe 

 with the keel of its breast-bone, and using its stiff tail-feathers as a 

 support. These habits are comfiion to all other Woodpeckers, Avhose 

 werlge- shaped bills are powerful instruments for digging out from decayed 

 portions of the tree the insidious larvae of the Goat-Moth (C'oss-^.s), or of 

 the beetles of the longicorn order, which are mining into it and destroying- 

 it. Although chiefiy arboreal in its habits, the Green Woodpecker gladly 

 descends whenever it detects an ants' nest, being very fond of the^e 

 minute insects. We have sometimes Hushed it in salt marshes, by the 

 sile of little rushy pools, where it must have been seeking variety in 

 the shape of worms and small crustaceans. Like the other Woodpeckers, 

 the Green Woodpecker is said to be able to make the strange vibrating 

 sound with its bill ; but we imagine it does not do this so frequently as 

 the other two English species, as we have never observed it doing so. We 

 have seen small birds chasing a Green AVoodpecker as if they had taken 

 it for a Hawk. The speckled plumage of young Green AVoodpeckeis 

 api)ears to puzzle people, as we have often had them sent to us as rare 

 and unknown birds. Placing our hands against the outside of a Green 

 AVo()di)eeker's nest in some liollow tree we have been astonished at the 

 lieat occasioned by the young birds within. The Green Woodpecker 



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