Picus major, LINNÆUS; L'Epeiche, ou Pic varié, BUFFON; Der
Grosser Buntspecht, BECHSTEIN.
This bird is rather larger than a thrush, nine inches long of which the
tail measures three and a half, and the beak one. The legs are three
lines high, and of a bluish olive; the iris is bluish, with a white
ring; the forehead yellowish brown; the top of the head and the back
black; the nape of the neck crimson; the shoulders white, the wings and
tail black, and streaked with yellowish white; the belly of a dirty
reddish white, the part about the vent crimson.
The female has no red on the nape of the neck.
HABITATION AND FOOD.--This woodpecker continually ranges woods and
orchards in search of its food, which consists of insects,
beech-mast, acorns, nuts, and the seed of pines and firs. In order to
crack the nuts, it fixes them in the clefts of the trees. The female
builds its nest in the hole of a tree, and lays from four to six
white eggs. Before moulting the head of the young ones is red. They
must be taken early from the nest if they are to be tamed. They are
fed and treated like the green woodpecker.