The GREEN WOODPECKER (_Gecinus viridis_) is bright green on the upper
portions of the body, and pale greyish green on the under side; the face
is black, the top of the head and nape greyish blue, shaded with bright
red; the wing is light yellow; a line on the cheeks of the male is red,
in the female black. The quills are pale brownish black, spotted with
yellowish or brownish white, and the tail-feathers pale greyish green,
striped with black. The eye is blueish white, the beak dull grey tipped
with black, and the foot greenish grey. The young are greyish green,
spotted with white on the mantle, and whitish grey spotted with black on
the under side; the eye is dark grey. The length of this bird is twelve
and its breadth twenty inches; the wing measures seven and the tail four
inches and a half.
The Green Woodpecker frequently seeks its insect food upon the ground.
This species is met with over the whole of Europe; but though common in
the wooded districts of England and Scotland, it is very rare in Ireland.
"Nature," says Mudie, in speaking of this species, "has appointed the
Woodpeckers conservators of the wood of old trees, furnished them
admirably for their office, and so formed their habits that an ancient
tree is an Eden for them, fraught with safety, and redolent of fatness
and plenty. So exquisitely are they fitted for their office that the
several species vary in tint with the general colour of the trees that
they select; if they exhibit an alternation of green moss, yellow lichen,
and ruby-tinted cups, with here and there a spot of black, then this, the
Green Woodpecker, comes in charge; but if they are covered with the black
and white lichens of the Alpine forest, we may look for the spotted race
upon the bark. When the renovation of the spring begins to be felt through
all nature, the Woodpecker creeps from his hole and tries the trunk till
he comes to a hollow place, and upon that he beats the drum in loud and
rolling taps, but yet without in the least perforating the tree. The sound
swells and sinks, hurries and lingers alternately, so that at a distance
it resembles the sound of rustic glee heard through the woodland; if the
Woodpecker's mate catches the sound she answers to it, the bargain is
concluded, and the business of the season begins; if not, the male glides
on to another tree, uttering his short cry, 'Plu-i, plu-i,' and again
resumes his serenade. If there happen to be an odd bird in the forest,
this call for a mate may occasionally be heard far into the summer. If
the tree selected by a pair of Woodpeckers affords no natural hole for
the purpose of nidification, they at once set about excavating one with
their bills, working so fast that the strokes cannot be counted either
by the eye or ear. They know the tree by the sound, and though they will
cut through a few layers of perfect wood, they never mine into a tree
unless it has begun to decay in the interior. Nature guides them to those
trees where their labour is light and they have plenty to eat. In working
they proceed as a mason does when he perforates a block of granite with
a pointed pick, they thump away with so much rapidity and force that the
timber is ground to powder, and they work in a circle no larger than will
admit themselves. They generally burrow so deep that no spoiler can reach
the eggs in their absence, and further security is afforded by the opening
being in some hidden part of the tree. Materials are seldom carried into
the nest, the bed for the reception of the little family being formed of
the soft powder from the wood. The eggs, from five to seven in number,
have a glossy white shell. The young are fledged in June, and creep about
their native tree-hole for some time before they are able to fly."
[Illustration: THE GREEN WOODPECKER (_Gecinus viridis_).]
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The CUCKOO WOODPECKERS (_Colaptes_) comprise several species at once
recognisable by their decidedly curved beaks and variegated plumage.