2 
GREEN WOODPECKER. 
trees where only a small 
distance into the stem. 
portion of the timber was unsound, I discovered the borings extended but a short 
1 noticed on several occasions that the male takes part in the duty of incubation and also of feeding the 
g. n order to ascertain this fact I captured four birds while on their eggs; and in three instances those 
I secured were males. 
young. 
The sexes may be easily distinguished, as the hlack mark that stretches like a moustache from below each 
side of the beak contains a small patch of red feathers in the male ; these are absent in the female. Before the 
young birds quit the nest a few of these bright feathers have already made their appearance. The eye of the 
nestling I remarked was a dirty greyish white. The hissing and snapping noise emitted by a brood of youim 
^ oodpeckers while in the nest would most probably deter any one unacquainted with their note from exploring 
the hole in which they were concealed without due caution, as the sound could hardly he expected to proceed 
from a bird. r 
Among the food which this species conveys to its young I have found small insects of various kinds, spiders, 
ants and their eggs. The mouth and throat of an old male (killed accidentally while shooting specimens of the 
young) were greatly distended by a large quantity of two different kinds of ants’ eggs, as well as numbers of the 
insects themselves. 
