i H o^&ciTHOLogr, BookII. 



Seethe defcription of the Entrails and Bowels in Aldrovandus. This Bird is laid to 

 be peculiar toBohemia.lt feeds upon Fruit,efpecially Grapes,of which it is very greedy. 

 Wherefore it feems tome, not without reafon, to be called by that name \_Ampelis.~\ 

 It is a Bird of a very hot temperament, and exceedingly voracious : flies in compa- 

 nies, and is eafily tamed. What elfe Aldrovandus hath of its difpofition and man- 

 ners, food, flight, ufe, &c. See in his Ornithology. It is wonderful, and to me fcarce 

 * d\uo\\aLr, credible, what he faith he learned by * ocular experience, to wit, that the Tail of the 

 Cock is made up often feathers, the Tail of the Hen of twelve. 



Chap. IV. 

 Of Woodpeckers in general. 



TO Woodpeckers? if under this name we comprehend the Nuthatch, the Wall- 

 creeper, the great Reed-Sparrow, and the Ox-eye creeper, there are very few 

 notes common, viz. to climb or run up trees, fticking to their bodies or 

 boughs 5 and for that purpofe to have ftrong and mufculous thighs. But if we ex- 

 exclude the forefaid Birds, and reftrain the name to Woodjj>ites, properly Co called, 

 there are many and remarkable notes whereby they maybediftinguifhed from all other 

 kinds of birds: As for example, i. To have a [freight, hard, ftrong, angular, and 

 (harp Bill, very fit and proper to pierce and bore holes in trees. 2. A Tongue of a 

 very greatlength, round, ending in a fharp, ftiff, bony thorn, dented on each fide, to 

 ftrike Ants, Cojfi, and other Infecls withal. This Tongue they can at pleafure put 

 forth to a greatlength, thrufting it deep into the crannies, holes, and clefts of trees, 

 to ftab and draw out Infe&s lurking there. 3. Short Legs, but very ftrong. 4. Toes 

 ftanding two forwards, and two backwards ; Which is common to thefe and Parrots. 

 Such a difpofition of Toes ( as Aldrovandus rightly notes) Nature, or rather the 

 Wifdom of the Creator, hath granted to Woodpeckers, becaufe it is very convenient 

 for the climbing of trees. Their Toes alfb are clofe joyned together; that they may 

 more ftrongly and firmly lay hold on the tree they climb upon. 5. All of them, un- 

 lefs perchance you except the Wryneck.-, have a hard, ftifTTail, bending alfb down- 

 wards, and its feathers ends often broken, and their ftiafts almoft bare 5 on which 

 they lean, and fo bear upthemfelvesin climbing. Their Tail confifts of but ten fea- 

 thers. 6. To feed only upon Infe&s. 7. To want the blind Guts, which is peculiar 

 to this kind, agreeing to no other bird or beaft befide, that we know. 8. To Jay 

 white Eggs. 



Whether all thefe marks agree to thofe American Birds which we have ranked un- 

 der this head we know not. We have referred them to this kind, for the like difpofiti- 

 on of their Toes, two forward, two backward $ especially feeing they belong neither 

 to Parrots nor Owls. 



Albertus writesthat all Woodjpites build in the hollows of trees, which before him 

 Pliny alfo hath recorded. They themfelves arefaid to hew out for themfelves a place to 

 build in 5 making fuch an artificial hole, fb exactly round, that the moft skilful and ex- 

 perienced Geometrician could not with his Compafs make a rounder. They hatch and 

 bring up fix or feven Young at once. The Eggs of all kinds of them that we have 

 hitherto feen are white. The ffioodfyite is called by the Greeks ApuojyiAa^is, from ftri- 

 king or piercing of trees. The Latine name Picus fbme think to be derived from the 

 French and Italian word Becco, fignifying a Bill or beak of a bird. Aldrovandus 

 thinks that it was rather deduced from the Fletnmifi word Picken, fignifying to ftrike 

 or knock with the Bill. The wot&Pick with us is varioufly applied, but originally 

 feems to have the fame fignification as in Flemmift, viz. either to ftrike with the Bill, 

 or gather up with the Bill. Hence in the North of England thefe Birds are called 

 Pickatrees, a word exacf ly of the fame fignification with the Qreek. Ag^e^**^- 



That Woodpeckers will learn to fpeak I can hardly be perfwaded, though Albertus 

 Magnus and Scaliger affirm it. 



The Woodpecker was not only by the ancient Latines, called Plnvis avh, the Rain- 

 fowl, but is Co alfo by our Country men now adays, becaufe by its voice more loud 

 and frequent than ufual it is thought toprefagc rain. 



Chap. 



