1 8 2 PICIDM.
1NSESSORES, P1C1DÆ.
SCANSORES.
T H E GRE EN WOODPECKER.
Pit
WOODSPITE, R A IN -B IR D , HEW-HOLE, YAFFLE,
WHET-ILE, AND WOOD WALL.
is viridis, Green Woodpecker, P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 315.
Mont. Ornith. Diet.
Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 140.
F lem. Brit. An. p , 91.
' S elby, Brit, Ornith. vol. i. p. 373.
J enyns, Man, Brit. Vert. p. 149.
' Gould, Birds of Europe,' pt. iii.
Pic vert, - TTemm. Man. d’Ondth.vol.i. p^-391.
T he Green W oodpecker is the most common, and,
accordingly the best known, among British Woodpeckers,
and is found over a great portion of, if not all, the wooded
districts of England and Scotland. It is generally seen
either climbing the bark of trees in search of its insect food,
or passing, by a short, somewhat laboured, and undulating
flight, from one tree to another.
When seen moving upon a tree, the bird is mostly ascending
in a direction more or less oblique, and is believed to be
incapable 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 trée, 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 induce any hidden
insect to change its place, pecking holes in a decayed branch
that ft 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.
The. tongue and its appendages in our Woodpeckers are
admirably adapted to their mode of life. That of the Green
Woodpecker has been frequently figured, and a brief description,
therefore, may suffice : it is, however, an interesting
subject to examine. The great extensibility of the tongue is
obtained by the Ölngation of thipfwo posterior branches or
cornua of the bone of the tongue, which extending round the
back of the. head and over the top, have the ends of both
inserted together into the cavity of the right nostril. These
elongations, forming a bow, are each accompanied throughout
their length by a slender slip of muscle, by the contraction
of which the bow is shortened, 'and the tongue pushed forward
; another pair of muscles folded twice round the upper