GREEN WOODPECKER 171 
and the tail is short, stiff, and spiky, to grip the 
tree and give additional support for the instru- 
ment's resounding blows. Thus armed, the Wood- 
pecker is able to drive its nesting-gallery deep into 
the sound heart of a tree, while it splits and tears 
the dead wood and bark in its search for insects 
with the greatest ease. It is a very brightly- 
coloured bird ; when seen, as it usually is, in 
flight, the eye is chiefly caught by the brilliant 
yellow splash above the tail, which eclipses the 
predominant olive-green of the plumage, and 
sometimes leads people to suppose that they have 
seen a Golden Oriole. On a closer view, one 
notices the handsome contrast of the rich green 
tints of the breast and back with the red and 
black patches on head, neck, and throat, and the 
darker, mottled quill-feathers of the wings and 
tail. The hen bird has less crimson on the head. 
About the middle of April the Woodpecker 
begins to bore a hole for its nest, for it seldom 
uses the same hole for a second season, even if 
last year's quarters are not appropriated betimes 
by an enterprising pair of Starlings or Nuthatches. 
The nest may often be found by the fresh dust and 
chips, which may float many yards down wind from 
a nest-hole in a lofty trunk or bough, and thus lay a 
thin trail of sprinkled sawdust among the shooting 
bluebells and anemones in the wood, right up to 
