Wooprrcker. ZYGODACTYLI. PICUS. 105 
or of the softer kinds of wood, such as the aspen (Populus 
tremula), to which it is very partial. When thus engaged, 
the strokes are repeated with such velocity, that the head is 
scarcely perceived to move, and the sound, it is said, may be 
heard distinctly at the distance of half-a-mile *. It makes no Nest, «xc. 
nest, but the eggs, four or five in number, and of a bluish- 
white colour, are deposited on the bare wood, at the bottom 
of the hole. 
‘Prats 38. Fig. 1. natural size. 
Base of the bill, nasal bristles, and region surrounding the General 
eyes, black. Crown of the head and moustaches arterial ee 
blood-red ; the base of the feathers bluish-grey. Hind 
part of the neck, upper part of the back, and wing-co- 
verts siskin-green, inclining to sap-green. Lower part 
of the back and rump gamboge-yellow. Under parts 
yellowish-grey, inclining to asparagus-green. Quills 
barred with dusky black and yellowish-grey. Tail bar- 
red with oil-green and blackish-brown. Inides greyish- 
white, Bill bluish-black, two inches long, and wedge- 
shaped. ‘Tarsi and toes blackish-grey. Claws much 
hooked, black. 
The red upon the head of the female is not so bright, and 
the moustaches are generally black. 
The young birds, when they quit the nest, have the head 
of a yellowish-grey colour, with a few red feathers in- 
terspersed. The green of the upper parts is duller, and 
varied with grey. ‘The moustaches are also imperfect. 
The lower parts yellowish-grey, with darker transverse 
bars. The irides are bluish-grey. 
* It also makes a jarring noise in the spring, which may be heard at 
some distance, and which appears to be a note.-call of both sexes to each 
other. 
