84 



8 



of very rare occurrence. Specimens from Dresser's collection, taken by him near Cilli, in Styria, 

 measure 1^ inch by f g- inch, and are pure white in colour — the texture of the shell being very 

 smooth, giving the egg a very glossy appearance. They taper slightly towards the larger, and 

 rather more so towards the smaller end. 



Mr. Stevenson has given a concise account of the celebrated varieties in Professor Newton's 

 collection, which we quote entire from the ' Birds of Norfolk ': — "In the ' Zoologist' for 1848 

 (p. 2229) Mr. Alfred Newton described some eggs of the Green Woodpecker found in the 

 neighbourhood of Elveden (Suffolk) during the previous spring, as abnormal in their colouring 

 as the plumage of the bird just referred to. After stating that 'the hen bird was in the hole 

 when it was cut open ' (lest any doubt should arise as to the species these eggs belonged to), he says, 

 ' Except in size, shape, and high polish, they do not at all resemble the eggs commonly laid by 

 this bird, being blotched and spotted with reddish brown and tawny yellow, so as to be some- 

 thing like those of the Common Quail, or that of the Baillon's Crake, as figured in Hewitson's 

 illustrations.' Again, in the ' Zoologist' for 1850 (p. 2923), Mr. Newton writes, ' I have again, 

 this year, obtained some eggs of the Green Woodpecker, coloured like those of which I sent you 

 an account two years since ; they were taken from a nest in an elm tree. . . . From their 

 having been taken near the place where the coloured eggs were found in 1848, they are all 

 probably the produce of the same bird.' From a correspondence which ensued upon these 

 notices, it will be seen that Mr. Newton at first, judging from the localities in which they were 

 taken, had great doubts whether the colouring matter on these eggs could be owing to any 

 fungoid juices or the stain of rotten wood ; but he now, I know, fully concurs with Mr. Hewitson's 

 opinion thus given in the 3rd edition of his ' British Birds' Eggs ' : — ' Mr. Newton has kindly sent 

 me a drawing of the coloured eggs of this species, mentioned by himself and others in the 

 ' Zoologist.' It is smeared over in the same manner as the eggs of the Grebes, and, I have no 

 doubt at all, arises from a vegetable stain.' Having also had the opportunity of examining some 

 of these peculiar specimens in the cabinets of Mr. Newton at Cambridge, and Mr. Newcombe at 

 Feltwell, I can only say that, whatever may have been the cause of their unusual colouring, they 

 suggest at once the idea of some external stain, and remind one of those strange-looking Swans' 

 eggs occasionally met with in a marshman's cottage, which owe their rich unnatural tints to the 

 ' gude wife's ' patience and an onion-peeling." 



The Green Woodpecker appears to be more or less migratory in some countries, but nowhere, 

 as far as we can learn, to any great extent. Mr. Stevenson observes in the before-mentioned 

 work: — "The sharp winter of 1860-61 was remarkable for the very large quantity killed in 

 different parts of the county, one bird-stuffer in Norwich having between twenty and thirty 

 brought in for preservation during a short period of severe frost ; but, with this single exception, 

 I have never known these birds to suffer much from the severity of the weather, or to present 

 themselves, even at such seasons, in more than their ordinary numbers. Their simultaneous 

 appearance in such extremely unusual numbers seemed almost to suggest a migratory move- 

 ment ; yet I know of no trustworthy facts which would justify me in classing this Woodpecker 

 witb such resident species as receive foreign additions in autumn." 



Mr. Yarrell has given a learned disquisition concerning the different names by which the Green 

 Woodpecker has been known ; and we think it of sufficient interest to be transcribed literally: — 



