These birds inhabit holes in trees, which they éxéavate or
enlarge for their use, chiefly in the elm or the ash, in preference
to those of harder wood. When excavating1 a hole
in a tree for the purpose of incubation, the birds, it is said,
will carry away the chips to a distance, in order that they
may not lead to a discovery of their -retreat, as other birds
are known.to carry away the egg-shells and mutings of their
young birds. The Green Woodpecker makes no nest, but
deposits its eggs on the loose, soft fragments of the decayed
wood. The eggs are from five to seven in number : smooth;
shining, and pure white, one inch two lines and a half in
length, by ten lines and a half in breadth. The young birds
are fledged in June, and creep about the tree a short distance
from the hole before they are able to fly. I havé known the
young birds to be taken from the tree and brought up by
hand, becoming very tame, and giving utterance to a low
note not unlike that of a very young-gosling. The adult
birds also make a low jarring sound, which is supposed to be
the call-note of the sexes to each other. Their more com.'
mon note is a loud sound, which has been compared to a
laugh, and they are said to- be vociferous when raip. is impending,
hence their name of Rain-bird; and as it is highly
probable that no change takes place in the weather without
some previous alteration in the electrical condition o f the
atmosphere, we can easily understand that birds, entirely
covered as they are with feathers, which are known to be
readily affected by electricity, should be susceptible of certain
impressions, which are indicated by particular actions : thus
birds, and other animals* covered only with the production of
their highly sensible skin, become living barometers-to good
observers. The Green Woodpecker is one of the earliest
birds to retire to rest in the afternoon.
I have occasionally, in the History of our Fishes and
Birds, endeavoured to give the explanation or derivation of
some of the names applied to our British species, and it is
hoped that such attempts, though sometimes unsuccessful,
may yet be acceptable, and even useful. The various names
by which our Green Woodpecker is known in different parts
of this country invite observation.
Wood-spite, which I have also seen spelled, Wood-speight,
if not intended .for our English words, wood, and spite; the
first syllable is derived from woad, in reference to the green
colour of the bird, and the second syllable is derived from
the German word “ specht,” a Woodpecker : Grünspecht is
in Germany the name of our Green Woodpecker.
Rain-bird has been already noticed. Wallis, in his History
of Northumberland, observes that it is Called by the
common people Rain-fowl, from its being more loud and
noisy before rain. The Romans called them Pluvite aves for
the same reason.
Hew-hole is sufficiently explained by the well-known habit
of the bird. |
Yaffle; or Yaffil. The Green Woodpecker is so called in
Surrey and Sussex, This name has reference to the repeated
notes of the bird, which have been compared to the sound
of a laugh. White, of Selbome says, “ the Woodpecker
laughs and in the popular poem of the Peacock “ At
Home,” the following couplet occurs ;—
*' This Sky-lark in ecstacy sang from a cloud,
Änd Chanticleei crow’d, and the Yaffil laugh’d loud.”
In some parts of Hertfordshire, and of the adjoining
county of Essex, the Green Woodpecker is called a Whet-ile.
The Word W hittle, is a term at present in use in some northern
counties. Brockett, in his Glossary of North-country words,
considers it derived from the Saxon “ Whytel,” a knife.
In Yorkshire, and in North America, a whittle is a clasp-
knife, and, to whittle,* is to cut or hack wood; the origin
* See Webster’s Dictionary, and both Series of the Sayings and Doings
of Sam Slick the Clockmaker.