TEIIEE-TOED WOODPECKEB.
NORTHERS THREE-TOED WOODPECKER.
Picus tridaciylus, LINNAEUS.
Apterus tridaciylus, SWAINSON.
Picoidcs tridaciylus, LACBPEDE.
Picus—A bird that makes holes in trees, supposed to be the Woodpecker.
Tridaciylus—Three-fingered.
THIS species, as conveyed by its specific name, is without the hind
toe. It is a native of the 'far west,1 being very common in the northern
parts of North America, from whence, by Kamtschafka, it spreads into
the north-eastern parts of Europe—Russia, Norway, Sweden, Lapland,
especially in Dalecarlia, and is also found in the mountain gorges of
Switzerland and the Tyrol, where it breeds, and occasionally in Germany
and France. Tcnmiinck, however, considers that the American and
European species are distinct. Siberia is also assigned to it as an
Asiatic bird.
The pine forests which fringe the lower sides of hills and the ravines
of mountainous districts, are the especial resort of this bird.
I insert this species on the authority of Donovan, vi, plate 143: Mr.
G. [{. dray, in his 'List of the British Birds in the British Museum,'
who gives the 'north of Scotland' as the place of its occurrence;
'Stephens' 'General Zoology;' Edwards and others; and the 'Zoologist
List of Birds.5
These birds do not migrate, but in the severity of winter some make
their way southwards, in America to the United States, and probably
the like is the case in Europe.
No sooner has the Woodpecker toiled up to the summit that it has
been seeking to reach, than it finds the prospect a barren one. and the
most that it has gained has been a temporary supply of necessary food;
again it must begin, again, and again, and yet again. 'Telle est la
vie. How often! But I must not moralise, nor think that I am