IHE SPECIES. 



99 



Gecinus. Plate xi. PICIDyE. 



149. viridis, 13^ in. GREEN WOODPECKER. Crown grey and scarlet ; 



moustache black and red ; back green ; primaries 



brown spotted or barred with white. 



The Green Woodpecker — Dimensions, I.i ; Eggs, Ha— has a laughing " hyu, hyu, hyu " 



for a call, and a dipping flight, but is generally detected as it taps the tree trunk up which 



it works obliquely, while its peculiarly nicked tail feathers keep it from slipping backwards. 



The female has no red in her moustache. The nest is generally in a beech, or ash, or poplar 



tree, in a hole about a foot long, made by the bird straight into the heart wood, and then 



curving downwards to an enlargement, which contains a few chips of wood and the clutch of 



from five to eight white glossy eggs. 



tteocicWa. Plate i. TURBINE (Passeridse). 



8. sibirica, 9 in. Siberian Thrush. Axillaries white and grey ; 

 tail feathers 12 ; plumage olive brown and slaty 

 grey, with brown spots ; broad yellowish white eye- 

 stripe ; wings brown. 



7. varia, 12^ in. White's Thrush. Axillaries white and black ; 



tail feathers 14 ; plumage yellowish brown above, 

 buffish below, with dark brown crescentoid blotches ; 

 wings brown, edged with buff. 



The Siberian Thrush — Dimensions, Hq — has only been heard of once or twice on this side 

 of the Channel, although it is occasionally seen in France and Belgium. 



White's Thrush — Dimensions, Kk ; Eggs, Hb— or White's Ground Thrush, as it is better 

 called, is named after Gilbert White, of SelbomCj who died five and thirty years before the 

 first specimen was heard of in Great Britain. It is unknown in this country except as a rare 

 winter visitor. Its nest has only been found once, and that was at Ningpo, in North China. 

 Its flight is like a Woodcock's, and its note is a plaintive " see I " 



Glareola. Plate xxv. GLAREOLTD^, 



291. pratincola, 9^ in. Pratincole. Olive brown above ; tail coverts 

 white ; wings blackish ; axillaries chestnut ; throat 

 buff, with a narrow black edging ; remiges 26 ', 

 tail much forked ; bill black, red at base. 



The Pratincole — Dimensions, Ik ; Eggs, Hi — is an African species occasionally visiting us 

 in spring or autumn. It has long wings and flies like a Tern, and it calls "bedree, 

 bedree \" 



Grus. Plate xxv, 

 286. virgo^ 



GRUIDjE. 



36 in. Demoiselle Crane. Tuft of white feathers 

 behind the eye ; innermost secondaries straight ; 

 bill green. 

 285. communis, 48 in. Crane. Crown naked and red ; no tuft of white 

 feathers ; innermost secondaries plumed ; bill 

 brown ; remiges 33, first primary as long as fourth, 

 second and third longest. 

 A Demoiselle Crane— Dimensions, Td ; Eggs, Sh— was once shot in the Orkney Islands 

 and thereby became a British bird. 



The Crane — Dimensions, Tk ; Eggs, Sn — is said to have bred in the Fens in the days of 

 Elizabeth. It certainly does not do so now ; but it straggles here very occasionally. It 

 flies with its head and neck out straight, and its legs out straight. Its call is " coorrr ! " 



Gyps. Plate xiv, 

 171. fulvus. 



VULTVRIDM, 

 42 in. Griffon Vulture. 



Head and neck downy ; 



plumage ashy ; ruff white ; wings and tail dark 



brown ; bill pale brown ; legs bluish. 



A Griffon Vulture — Dimensions, Tj ; Eggs, So — in the springtime of 1843, sat on a rock 



near Cork Harbour, and is now to be seen, duly stuff'ed, in Trinity College, Dublin. He was 



the first and the last of the Griff'ons on record in the British Islands ; and in many bird bo'^ks 



he proudly heads the British list. 



