GREEN WOODPECKER, 
PICUS FIRIDIS. 
In the forest district of Sussex I have met with considerable numbers of this species. It also appears very 
generally distributed over most of the southern and eastern counties : I cannot, however, assert that I have 
observed it further north than Norfolk. In the dusk of a gloomy October evening, some twenty years ago, I 
caught sight of two birds much resembling Green Woodpeckers in the Tynningham Woods on the coast of 
East Lothian. It was impossible to identify them with certainty, owing to the rapidly increasing twilight and 
the momentary glimpse I was able to obtain as they dashed across the road. From inquiries I have made among 
keepers and foresters in the North, and also from my own observations, I am of opinion that this species must 
be of very unfrequent occurrence in Scotland. The call of the bird is so remarkable that it is almost 
impossible they could be residents in any district without attracting attention. The note must be heard 
to be thoroughly understood ; and I can only describe it as a high-toned scream of laughter. I have no 
evidence that this species is migratory, or that the British Islands are ever visited by flights from the 
continent. 
It is only in Sussex that I have met with opportunities of closely studying the habits of the Green Wood- 
pecker. I particularly remarked, in both the eastern and central parts of the county, that, with but few 
exceptions, these birds resorted to beech trees for breeding-purposes. Deserted and recent borings may be 
found in all quarters of Balcombe Forest, wherever their favourite trees arc situated. Large beeches are 
scattered over the greater portion of that wild and picturesque locality; and though the majority are still sound, 
the birds appear to have but little difficulty in selecting any number they may require in which decay has 
already set in. Many of these forest giants measure from five to seven feet in diameter ; and the immense 
quantity of chips that this Woodpecker throws out while boring into such ponderous stems often presents a 
most curious sight, if examined when the work has been recently executed. I have repeatedly come across 
heaps of at least from one to two bushels of chips piled up at the roots of the tree ; and in two or three instances 
I have arrived on the spot while the boring was being carried on. Every few seconds the head of the bird is 
seen at the entrance of the hole with a chip in its bill ; this it immediately drops, and at once returns for a 
fresh supply. Where the wood is soft, it appears that the holes are very rapidly excavated; I have noticed 
large heaps of debris accumulated in a short space of time. It is, I believe, usually supposed that the boring is 
a straight entrance or hole and then takes a downward course till the depth at which the bird desires to deposit 
its eggs is arrived at. This is not invariably the case, as, in a boring I cut out near the western extremity of 
Balcombe Forest, I discovered the bird had constructed a most curious winding passage. Luckily the tree 
was particularly rotten, so the labour was slight, or I might have had an undertaking of some hours to follow 
all the curves and turns that the architect had fashioned. For between two and three feet the hole was cut 
straight into the stem, next turning downwards for some eight or ten inches, then brought for about a foot in 
the direction of the entrance, and finally carried downwards to the depth of fifteen or sixteen inches. In 
