82 



during the time I was watching it. The species is often seen on the ground, jumping actively 

 in the grass, sometimes for very long distances." 



Bailly gives the following account of its note : — 



" The Green Woodpecker generally appears in Savoy about the end of March. The male 

 then utters its amatory note, which may be expressed by the words tio-tid-tio-tio, uttered up to 

 fifteen times in rotation in a shrill tone. These cries, which are heard on the first fine days we 

 have after the end of February, are plaintive, and may be heard at some distance, particularly 

 about the middle of April, when they acquire their full natural force. Besides these cries, which 

 are peculiar to the male during the nesting-time, others are heard which are equally peculiar to 

 the female ; these are very short and quick, as if itself was in danger, or seeing its progeny 

 menaced. These cries, which are different from the former ones, are like the words tidkakan, 

 tiakakan." 



Mr. Hewitson writes concerning its breeding-habits : — 



" The Green Woodpecker builds its nest in the trunks of trees, frequently at a considerable 

 height above the ground. In Norway, where the churches are chiefly of wood, we noticed one 

 of these birds which had chosen for its nest the elevated situation of the spire, in the side of 

 which it had most irreverently bored its hole." 

 From Dresser's note-book we extract the following remarks : — 



" They form their own nest in some tree which is so far rotten that they can work at it 

 without much difficulty, and generally make their hole at some height, although occasionally 

 they are to be found not more than ten or twelve feet from the ground. I have on two occasions 

 taken nests in alder trees not above nine feet above the ground. The entrance is circular, and 

 the nest extends often to a considerable depth below it ; in some instances the eggs can scaixely 

 be reached when the arm is inserted in the hole beyond the elbow. The interior of the breeding- 

 place is smooth, and increases in size towards the bottom. The eggs, generally six or seven in 

 number, are deposited on the small chips which are left at the bottom of the hole." 



Occasionally the birds bore their hole in a sound tree ; and an instance is given by Mr. 

 Harting in his ' Birds of Middlesex ' : — 



"An instance of the wonderful and rapid way in which the Woodpecker can cut out a hole 

 in a tree has lately come under my notice. A young collector, who was anxious to obtain some 

 eggs of this species, watched a pair of birds almost incessantly from the time they commenced 

 excavating till the first egg was laid. At five o'clock one Friday morning he saw the hen bird 

 alight upon an oak, at about ten feet from the ground, and pick off a piece of bark about the size 

 of a shilling, and fly away with it. This manoeuvre was repeated several times. Both birds then 

 laboured at the tree to make a hole, and by seven o'clock on the following Sunday morning they 

 had cut through two inches of wood, and made a hole eight inches deep, in which at the hour 

 last named a single egg was found. This tends to prove that the Woodpecker, in selecting a 

 tree in which to deposit its eggs, does not always make use of one which is unsound." 



The Green Woodpecker, though a thoroughly inoffensive bird, is not always allowed to 

 retain peaceful possession of its chosen abode. Mr. Gould says : — " In the spring the Green 

 Woodpecker becomes very garrulous and noisy, and thus often betrays the site of its breeding- 

 place, in a hole of some upright stately tree, to which it returns again and again for many years, 



