WOODPECKER. 341 



coloured base; irides reddish ; general colour of the plumage black 

 above, the forehead dirty buff; on the hindhead a bar of crimson ; 

 cheeks white ; on each side of the neck, behind, a spot of white ; 

 scapulars, and wing coverts nearest to them, white : quills spotted 

 with white ; throat and breast yellowish grey ; lower part of the 

 belly and vent crimson ; tail black, the four middle feathers plain, the 

 others more or less marked with white ; the outmost has two black 

 spots on each side the web ; the next two on the inner, and only one 

 on the outer web ; legs lead-colour. 



The female wants the red on the hindhead. 



This bird is sufficiently common in England, France, Germany, 

 and other parts of Europe, frequenting the woods like others of the 

 Genus; found in Russia, and as high as Lapmark ; extends also to 

 the most eastern parts of Siberia ; inhabits Astrachan ; found likewise 

 in America, having been sent from New York. It is a very crafty 

 bird, for when a person has seen one in a tree, he is almost sure to 

 lose sight of it, if the tree is large, and the observer not very 

 attentive; as soon as it spies any man, it will creep behind a branch, 

 and lie secure till the danger is over : it ascends trees with very 

 great facility, but whether it can descend with equal ease may be 

 doubted; rears the young in the hole of a decayed tree, and lays about 

 five eggs, perfectly white,* and glossy, each weighing one drachm, 

 or more;t is very noisy, making a loud kind of rapping with the 

 bill, on the branches of the trees, to be heard at a great distance, 

 probably in search after insects ; and, according to Hasselquist, if 

 the bird mentioned by him, it frequents the higher parts of Asia. 



* In Sepp the egg is greyish white, mottled with minute dusky specks, 

 f Colonel Montagu. 



