Picus Martius 147 



Of the Picus Martius. 

 ^pvoKoXd'mr)';, picus martius, pipo, lynx, torquella, turbo, 

 in English and in German a specht, eyn specht. 



Aristotle. 



Some birds delight in grubs, and as a rule live on 

 no other prey, as do the great and little Pipo, both of 

 which people call Picus Martius. Resembling one 

 another they utter like cries, although the greater 

 has the louder cry. Again there is the koXio?, the 

 size of which is, nearly as may be, that of the Turtur, 

 and its colour yellowish. It pecks wood freely, and, 

 as the Pici do, lives for the most part on the trunks, 

 that is, lives on the wood\ as Gaza renders it : it 

 utters a loud cry, and is especially a resident in the 

 Peloponnese. 



Note that, when Aristotle only makes two sorts of Pici, 

 in that passage he describes the Galgulus, when he makes 

 three, he does not mention it. 



Aristotle book 9, chap. 9, of the history of 

 animals. 

 Alauda, Gallinago, and Coturnix never alight on 

 trees, but always on the ground. It is however other- 

 wise with Picus Martius, which never can endure 

 sitting upon the ground. It hammers oaks for worms 

 and grubs, that they may shew themselves, and when 

 they issue forth it takes them on its tongue, which 

 it has somewhat long and broad. It climbs about 

 a tree in every way, for it even walks upside down, 

 after the way of Lizards. It has claws better 

 formed for creeping safely on the trees than even the 

 Monedula, and climbs with them stuck in. There 

 are three sorts of birds that have the special name of 

 Picus Martius, one less than a Merula, which has some 



' Cf. p. 88. 



To 2 



