168 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
is fairly frequent, though hardly abundant, in most 
well-wooded districts in the southern parts of the 
country, and in April and May it makes its loud, 
repeated, shouting cry one of the most con- 
spicuous bird-voices of the neighbourhood. It 
sometimes arrives even in March, and is generally 
to be heard in full voice before the middle of 
April, about the same time as the Cuckoo ; it has 
thus gained its country name of the Cuckoo's 
Mate. The names of Barley-bird and Rinding- 
bird also refer to the season of its arrival, since 
barley-sowing and oak-bark stripping are in 
progress about the same time ; but other species 
among the spring immigrants are also called by the 
former name in different localities. Its loud and 
conspicuous cry is rather like the Green Wood- 
pecker's ; but it is more shouting and less ringing 
in tone, and the bird seems to take pains to make 
each note as distinct, vehement, and unmistakable 
as it possibly can. Owing to its way of hiding 
itself among the limbs of the trees, and the 
resemblance of its plumage to the colour of their 
bark, it is not an easy bird to get a good sight of, 
even when it is heard at unmistakably close 
quarters, and it generally needs a good deal of 
careful and patient stalking. The plumage of 
the upper parts is very beautifully pencilled with 
greys and browns, in the same way as the Night- 
