tend to propel it forwards. This provision, the more needed from the posterior situation of the legs, is admirably calculated for ascending; and having explored the bark by a spiral course, the woodpecker flies off to the next tree to repeat the same process. The flight of the present species is undulating, seldom protracted to any extent, but limited to a transit from tree to tree in the seclusion of its native woods. Its food consists of the larvæ of wasps, bees, and other insects; in addition however it devours fruits, berries, and nuts with avidity. The female selects the hollows of old trees, in which she deposits two or three eggs of an ivory whiteness.'

Mr. Hewitson saw this species in two instances only in Norway, and at a distance. The birds were so wild that to approach them was impossible. The same observing ornithologist says that on the wing the Black Woodpecker looks like a crow, and that its notes resemble a loud hoarse laugh.

The Great Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius).

Upper figure, female; lower, male. (Gould.)

Picus viridis (Genus Gecinus, Boie; Brachylopus, Sw.). Description.-Male.-Top of the head, occiput, and moustaches brilliant red; face black, upper parts a beautiful green; rump tinged with yellowish; quills regularly marked with whitish on their external barbs; tail shaded with brown and striped transversely; base of the lower mandible yellowish; iris white, feet greenish-brown. Total length about thirteen inches.

Female with less red on the head and less black round the eyes; the moustaches black.

The Young at their departure from the nest have a little red upon the head, the rest yellowish ash-colour; all the green paler, and marked on the back with ashy spots; the moustaches formed by some black and whitish spots;

the rest of the lower parts greenish white with transverse brown bands; iris blackish ash.

Varieties.-Pure white with the head yellowish; the plumage whitish, with the ordinary colours weakly developed; often more or less variegated with white.

This is the Pic verd and Pic vert of the French; Pico verde, Picchio verde, and Picchio pollastro of the Italians; Grünspecht, and Fichten, Laub, Grüner und Grünlicher Ordhacker of the Germans; Wedknar, Gronspik, and Grongjoling of the Swedes; Groenspet of the Danes and Norwegians; Deteu and Detela of Scopoli; Green Woodpecker or Woodspite, Rain-bird, Rain-fowl, High-hoe, Hewhole, Awl Bird, Pick-a-tree, Yappingale, Yaffil, Yuffle, Yafter, Woodwall? Whet-ile, Popinjay, and Poppinjay of the modern British; Cnocell y coed and Delor y derw of the antient British.

Belon seems to confound the Great Black Woodpecker and the Green Woodpecker: his description and figure indicate the latter, but over the cut in L'Histoire de la Nature des Oyseaux' (folio, 1555), he writes' Dryocolaptos, Pipra, Pipo, Chloreus en grec, Picus martius mujor, Picus arborarius et arborum cavator en Latin, Pic mart, Pic verd, ou Pic iaulne en Françoys; and below he gives the description of the dpvokolárne (Dryocolaptes) from the ninth chapter of the ninth book of Aristotle (Hist. Anim.), where the Greek zoologist states that the Dryocolates does not perch on the ground, but strikes the oaks to make the worms and insects (okvires) come forth. Now the Green Woodpecker frequently alights on the ground for the purpose of feeding on emmets. In the Portraits des Oyseaux,' &c. (4to., 1557), over the same figure, is printed Grec, opvokoλarns; Latin, Picus maximus, Picus martius, Arborarius; Italien, Pico, Pichio; François, Pic Picmart, Pic verd, Pic iaulne, Picumart; and below it:'Le Pic verd iaulne à la Turtrelle a guerre,

Et au Corbeau et au rouge Pic verd.
De plume iaulne il a le corps couvert,
Et ses petits en un trou d'arbre en serre.'

Further observations relating to the Woodpeckers known to the antients will be found at the end of this section.

Geographical Distribution.-The European continent, but not common in Holland, from Scandinavia and Russia to Spain, Provence, and Italy; the wooded districts t Greece. England and Scotland generally, where woods are. Not recorded as having been found in Ireland.

Habits, Food, &c.-This species obtains its food both upon trees and on the ground; its flight is short, undulating, and rather laborious. When seen moving upon & tree,' says Mr. Yarrell, 'the bird is mostly ascending in a direction more or less oblique, and is believed to be inca pable of descending unless this action is performed backwards. On flying to a tree to make a new search, the bird settles low down on the bole or body of the tree, but a few feet above the ground, and generally below the lowest large branch, as if to have all its work above it, and proceeds from thence upwards, alternately tapping to in duce any hidden insect to change its place, pecking holes in a decayed branch, that it may be able to reach any insects that are lodged within, or protruding its long extensible tongue to take up any insect on the surface; but the summit of the tree once obtained, the bird does not descend over the examined part, but flies off to another tree, or to another part of the same tree, to recommence its search lower down nearer the ground.'

A very large proportion of the food of this species is derived from ants and their eggs. Every person who has lived in the country must frequently have seen this gaycoloured woodpecker on its feed at some ant-hill. Mr. Yarrell states that he has seldom had an opportunity of examining a recently killed specimen, the beak of which did not indicate by the earth adhering to the base, and to the feathers about the nostrils, that the bird had been so at work. Bechstein says that in the winter it will take bees from the hive, and that in the house it is fed on nuts, ants' eggs, and meat. Of its manners in captivity the German ornithologist says that the beauty of its plumage is all that can be said of it; for it is so fierce, quick, and stubborn, that it can only be kept chained. It is curious, he adds, to see it crack nuts.

Buffon laments over the hard lot of this bird, always cendemned to labour for its existence, and hears in its wild laughing cry exclamations of wretchedness. An animal can hardly be unhappy while obeying an instinct which is associated with enjoyment; and so differently has the

After the first moult the red on the top of the head disappears, to give place to the black; and the occiput, which is black in the young, becomes red in the adult males. By this peculiarity in the change of the livery the young of this species may infallibly be distinguished from those of Picus leuconotus and Picus medius.

This is the Grand Pic varié and Pic varié ou Epeiche of the French; Picchio Cardinale maggiore, Picchio vario maggiore, and Picchio rosso maggiore of the Italians; Der Bunt Specht, Fichten, Kieffern, Laubholz und Bergbuntspecht, and Grosser Baumhacker of the Germans; Gyllenrenna of the Swedes; Hakke-speet of the Danes; Great Black and White Woodpecker, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Witwall, Whitwall, Wood Pie, and French Pie (the last in Gloucestershire) of the modern British; Delor fraith of the antient British.

Geographical Distribution.-Extensive, more so, perhaps, than that of any other European Woodpecker. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia, Europe generally to Italy inclusive. Common in Smyrna (Strickland). England, (rarer northwards,) Scotland, Ireland.

Habits, Food, &c.-Mr. Gould observes that the group to which this species belongs, although they occasionally descend to the ground, are far more arboreal in their habits and manners than the Green Woodpeckers represented by the Picus viridis, caniceps, and several others from the Himalaya Mountains. They exhibit,' says Mr Gould in continuation, great dexterity in traversing the trunks of trees and the larger decayed limbs in quest of larvæ and coleopterous insects which lurk beneath the bark, and to obtain which they labour with great assiduity, disengaging large masses of bark, or so disturbing it by repeated blows as to dislodge the objects of their search. Besides searching trees of the highest growth, they are observed to alight upon rails, old posts, and decayed pollards, where, among the moss and vegetable matter, they find a plentiful harvest of spiders, ants, and other insects; nor are they free from the charge of plundering the fruittrees of the garden, and in fact commit great havoc among cherries, plums, and wall-fruit in general. Their flight is rapid and short, passing from tree to tree, or from one wood to another, by a series of undulations. In their habits they are shy and recluse, and so great is their activity among the branches of trees, that they seldom suffer themselves to be wholly seen, dodging so as to keep the branch or stem between themselves and the observer." (Birds of Europe.)

The editor of Pennant's British Zoology states that this species puts the point of its bill into a crack or the limb of a large tree, and makes a quick tremulous motion with its head, thereby occasioning a sound as if the tree was splitting, which alarms the insects and induces them to quit their recesses: this, the editor says, it repeats during the spring in the same spot every minute or two for half an hour, and will then fly to another tree, generally fixing itself near the top for the same purpose. The noise, he adds, may be distinctly heard for half a mile, and he remarks that the bird will also keep its head in very quick motion, while moving about the tree for food, jarring the bark, and shaking it at the time it is seeking for insects. Bechstein says, that the food of this species consists of insects, beech-mast, acorns, nuts, and the seed of pines and firs, and that in order to crack nuts, it fixes them in the clefts of the trees. Temminck makes the food to consist of hannetons (Melolontha), bees, grasshoppers, ants, perforating and other larvæ.'

The eggs, which are glossy-white, and from four to six in number, are deposited at the bottom of a hole in a tree upon the decayed wood. Montagu gives a strong instance of the pertinacity with which the female remains at her duty. It was with difficulty the bird was made to quit her eggs; for notwithstanding a chisel and mallet were used to enlarge the hole, she did not attempt to fly out till the hand was introduced, when she quitted the tree at another opening.' Montagu further states, that this species more frequently makes that jarring noise for which the woodpeckers are distinguished, than either of the others, especially when disturbed from the nest, as he had

an opportunity of observing on the occasion above mentioned. As soon,' continues he, as the female had escaped, she flew to a decayed branch of a neighbouring tree, and there began the jarring noise before-mentioned, which was soon answered by the male from a distant part of the wood, who soon joined his mate, and both continued these vibrations, trying different branches, till they found the most sonorous.'

It is an observation of Mr. Selby's, that scarcely a year passes in Northumberland without some of these birds being obtained in the months of October and November. This induces him to suppose that they are migratory in some of the more northern parts of Europe, perhaps in Norway and Sweden. They arrive, he remarks, about the same time as the Woodcock and other equatorial migrants, and generally after stormy weather from the north or north-east.

The favourite localities of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker are large woods and well-timbered parks. It has been seen, but not so abundantly as the next species, in Kensington Gardens.

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates Major). Upper figure, male; lower, female. (Gould.)

Pennant and others have placed the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Picus medius, among the British birds; but there is no safe record of its having been even seen in this country. The mistake has arisen from the captors supposing the crimson-headed young of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker to be the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, which, when in perfect plumage, has the top of the head red. The last-named species is now withdrawn from the British catalogue. Picus minor, Linn.

Description.-Old Male.-The whole of the forehead, region of the eyes, sides of the neck, and under parts tar nished white; five longitudinal black lines on the breast and flanks; top of the head red; occiput, nape, upper part of the back and wings black; on the rest of the upper parts black and white bands; a black band goes from the angle of the bill on the sides of the neck; lateral tailfeathers terminated with white and streaked with black; iris red. Length 53 inches.

Female. No red; white of the plumage clouded with brown, with a greater number of spots and black stripes than in the male; the black of the upper parts is also less perfect.

Varieties.-Pure white; yellowish-white with the black of the plumage weakly developed; sometimes variegated with white feathers.

This is Le Petit Epeiche and Le Petit Pic of the French; Picchio sarto minore, Picchio piccolo, Picchio Cardinale minore, and Picchietto Cardinale of the Italians; Grasspecht, Garten und Gras Bunt-specht, Kleiner Bunt-specht, and Kleiner Baumhackl of the Germans; Kleinste Bonte Specht of the Netherlanders; Lilla Hackspetten of Nilsson's Scandinavian Fauna; Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodspite, Hickwall, and Crank Bird of the modern British; Delor fraith beiaf of the antient British.

Geographical Distribution.-This, the least of the European Woodpeckers, but by no means the smallest of the family, is pretty generally distributed over Europe from Scandinavia and as far east as Siberia, to Italy. It is common in England, and Sir Robert Sibbald claims it as a Scotch bird under the name of Picus varius minor, a designation by which it was known to Ray and the earlier writers. In Ireland it does not seem to have been noticed. Habits, Food, &c.-Woods, orchards, nursery gardens, and well-timbered parks are the haunts of this pretty little bird. ་ In England,' says Mr. Gould, it is far more abundant than is generally supposed; we have seldom sought for it in vain wherever large trees, particularly the elm, grow in sufficient numbers to invite its abode: its security from sight is to be attributed more to its habit of frequenting the topmost branches than to its rarity. Near London it is very common and may be seen by an attentive observer in Kensington Gardens, and in any of the parks in the neighbourhood. Like many other birds whose habits are of an arboreal character, the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker appears to perform a certain daily round, traversing a given extent of district, and returning to the same spot whence it began its route. Besides the elm, to which it is especially partial, it not unfrequently visits orchard-trees of large growth, running over their mossgrown branches in quest of the larvae of insects which abound in such situations. In its actions it is very lively and alert. Unlike the Large Woodpecker, which prefers the trunks of trees, it naturally frequents the smaller and more elevated branches, which it traverses with the utmost ease and celerity: should it perceive itself noticed, it becomes shy, and retires from observation by concealing itself behind the branch on which it rests; if however earnestly engaged in the extraction of its food, its attention appears to be so absorbed that it will allow itself to be closely approached without suspending its operations. When spring commences, it becomes clamorous and noisy, its call being an oft-repeated note, so closely resembling that of the Wryneck as to be scarcely distinguishable from it. At other times of the year it is mute, and its presence is only be trayed by the reiterated strokes which it makes against the bark of trees.' (Birds of Europe.)

The four or five eggs are deposited in a hole in a tree generally suited to the size of the bird, whereby larger intruders are excluded, and sometimes very deep. They are of a delicate flesh-colour before they are blown, being so transparent that the colour imparted by the yolk is visible; when blown they are of a shining white.

Sweden, Russia, and Siberia forming its principal habitat; that it is also found among the Alps of Switzerland, is but an accidental visitor in France and Germany, and has never been taken, he believes, in the British Islands. Dr. Richardson says that this bird exists in all the forests of spruce-fir lying between Lake Superior and the Arctic Sea, and that it is the most common woodpecker north of Great Slave Lake. It much resembles, he adds, Picus villosus in its habits, except that it seeks its food princi pally on decaying trees of the pine tribe, in which it frequently makes holes large enough to bury itself, and remarks that it does not migrate. Temminck observes that the North American specimens are rather less and their colours more vivid than those of Europe; but the total length of a male killed near the sources of the Athabasca River (lat. 57°) is given by Dr. Richardson as nine inches six lines.

Insects and their larvæ and wild fruits form the food of this species, which lays four or five pure white eggs in the hole of a tree.

Three-toed Woodpecker. Lower figure, male. (Gould.) Two other European Woodpeckers (four-toed), viz. Picus canus and Picus leuconotus-the first a good deal resembling the Green Woodpecker, and the second not unlike the Greater Spotted Woodpecker-are unknown as inhabitants of the British Islands.

Before we close this section we proceed to notice the Woodpeckers known to the antients. The probability is that they were acquainted with every one of the European species; but the names which they assigned to each of them, if indeed they did not confound more than one species under the same name, are not, in our opinion, quite satisfactorily determined.

Aristotle (Hist. Anim.,' viii. 3), after treating of insecti