THE GREAT SPOTTED 

 WOODPECKER 



(Dendrocopus major) 



IT is not a little remarkable that such nearly allied birds as the great green 

 woodpecker, or yaffle, and the two kinds of pied or spotted woodpeckers should 

 present such remarkable diversity in the matter of colouring ; the former 

 being mainly olive-yellow with a red skull-cap in both sexes, while the other two 

 are pied above and chiefly white below, with a red band at the back of the head 

 of the cock alone. A third group is represented by the great black woodpecker, 

 which is wholly sable, with an ivory-white beak. The difference in the matter of 

 colouring between the green and the pied species is probably due to their different 

 habits, the former being to a great extent a ground-bird, fond of frequenting lawns 

 and meadows near woods for the purpose of digging up ants' nests, while the other 

 two are almost completely arboreal. In the dappled shade cast by the leaves — 

 especially those of pines — on the trunks of trees, these pied birds are comparatively 

 inconspicuous ; while among grass of moderate length the green woodpecker is 

 absolutely invisible. It is further noteworthy that the pied species have most 

 of the under surface of the body white, whereas in the green woodpecker the same 

 aspect is grey. To a bird walking on grass a white under surface would certainly 

 be no protection ; but in bright sunshine on the trunk of a tree such a surface 

 would undoubtedly tend to render the bird inconspicuous, as it would counteract 

 the effect of the dark shade thrown by the body, in precisely the same manner 

 as in the case of white-bellied quadrupeds. 



Very curious is the fact that while, as already mentioned, the red band on 

 the back of the pied species occurs in the adult only in the males, such a band is 

 found in both sexes of the immature birds. This fact, coupled with the occurrence 

 of a red head in both sexes of the green species, may be taken as an indication that 

 red on the head was at one time a feature in all woodpeckers, but that for some 

 reason it has been discarded in the females of the pied group. 



Woodpeckers present some of the finest examples of the adaptation of bodily 

 structure to be met with in the whole animal kingdom. The strong, conical beak 

 is, for example, admirably suited for chiselling out, by repeated blows of the head, 

 rotten wood in insect-infected trees, or prising off loose pieces of bark in order 

 that the bird may be able to get at the insects and other creatures lurking beneath. 

 Then, again, the short legs and the curious structure of the feet, with two toes turned 

 forwards and the other backwards, enable these birds to obtain the most effective 



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