hopes may be frustrated time after time, and she may be
wholly hindered from raising a brood that season. When
unobstructed, the same hole may be tenanted for several
years in succession, and Couch records (Zool. p. 6827) an
instance of the same tree being occupied for thirty consecutive
years ; but more commonly a new hole is made
every season, the old holes seeming to serve as sleeping
chambers for the birds at other times of the year, and it has
been truly observed that Woodpeckers are among the earliest
birds to retire to rest in the afternoon. The young are
hatched towards the end of May, or beginning of June, and
when fledged are said to creep about the tree containing the
nest before they are able to fly. Taken at that time they
may be brought up by hand, and become very tame, uttering
a low note which has been compared to that of a very young
Gosling. The adults have a considerable variety of cries—
one, very harsh, loud, and apparently peculiar to the cock in
early spring, has been syllabled by De Buffon tiacacan,
tiacacan ; another, which may be heard almost throughout
the year, is a cheerful, laughing call, pieu, pieu, pleu,
several times repeated, and is believed by most people to
prognosticate rain, but some observations made with care
fail to establish the credit of the species as a weather-prophet
(Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. 1870-71, p. 81), and
though “ Rain-fowl” or “ Rain-bird” used to be, if it is not
now, one of the many names borne by this Woodpecker,
doubts may perhaps be entertained as to its fitness.* Later
* Aldro v an du s in d e ed sa id (Orn. lib . x ii. cap. x x x .)— and th e sta tem en t h a s
b e en m an y tim e s rep e a ted b y o th e r w r ite r s— th a t th e Woodpecker “ v e te r ib u s
p lu u iæ a u is d ic tu s e s t .” The E d ito r , a fte r m uch search, h a s n o t d iscover ed who
th e s e a n c ien ts were ; b u t h e b e lie v e s h e ma y con fid en tly a sse rt th a t such a name
does n o t occur in any cla ssica l autho r ; a n d i f i t w ere ev e r in u se i t may be open
to d oubt w h e th e r th e b ird in ten d ed w a s n o t ra th e r a P lo v er. In h is n e x t s en ten
c e , howev er, A ld o v and u s seems to g iv e th e k e y to a reasonable exp lan a tion of
th e names “ R a in -b ir d ” an d “ Pleupleu, ’’ ap p lied r e sp e c tiv e ly in Eng lan d and
Franc e, fo r h e s a y s :— “ Præsagire vero pluuiam cred eb a tu r e x v o c is sono, cum
nemp e v a lid iu s , quam so ler et, str id e r e ob se ru aba tu r.” The same v iew is ta k en
b y Sa lerne (p. 1 0 4 ), who sa y s o f th is sp e c ie s “ c ’e s t p eu t-ê tr e sur son cri q u ’on
s ’e s t a v is é de d ire qu’i l p rom e tto it de la p lu ie and D e Buffon a lso in c lin e s to
th e same b e lie f.
Considering th e v ery in se cu r e ground on w h ich r e st sp e cu la tion s a s to th e
in the summer a cry like one of those uttered by the Kestrel
is often heard, proceeding presumably from the young, and
occasionally diversified by a loud chunk, chunk.
The explanation or derivation of the common names of
our birds is nearly always a matter of much interest, and
those by which the present species is known invite attention,
the more so since in former Editions of this work they were
treated at some length.* “ Rain-bird ” has been already
noticed, but it may be remarked that this name, as well as
“ Pick-a-tree,” is stated by Wallis in his I Natural History
of Northumberland ’ (i. p.' 321) to have been used in that
county when he wrote" (1769). “ Wood-Speight ” (often
erroneously written “ Wroodspite ”) or simply “ Speicht,” as
Hollyband had it in 1593 (Diet. Fr. and Engl, sub voce Pic),
is cognate with the German Specht, and the French Epeiche,
equivalent to Woodpecker, and it will be directly shewn
that the prefix does not mean woad as has been suggested.
“ Yaffil ” or “ Yaffingale ” refers to the bird’s common cry,
which has been well compared by Gilbert White and many
others to the sound of laughter, and in the once-popular
poem of the £ Peacock at Home ’ we have : —
“ Tbe Sky la rk in ec sta sy sang from a cloud,
A n d Chantic lee r crow’d, and th e Yaffil lau gh ’d lo u d .”
In some counties a Woodpecker is called a “ Whetile,” and
in others a “ Woodwale ”—two words which seem to have
the same derivation. The first has been supposed to be
merely a corruption of whittle—a knife—formerly written
whytel; but a still more ancient form of this word is thwitel
cap a city o f bird s for fo re c a stin g changes o f th e w ea th e r , i t is th ou gh t in e x p ed ien t
h e r e to repr in t th e n o tes in se r ted by th e A uth o r o f th is work in h is Second and
T hird E d ition s, ta k en from th e w r itin g s o f Mr. S c rop e , Mr. A. Youn g and Sir
H . D a v y— p a r ticu la r ly s in c e none o f th em re fe r to birds.
* The d eriv a tion s before g iv en w ere su p p lied to Mr. Y a rrell b y “ a lea rn ed
fr ien d a t Cambridge ” whom th e Ed ito r h a s n o t b een able to id en tify . They
were, according to modern in v e s tig a tio n s , e x tr em e ly erroneous, though th e le ss
b lam e is to be on th a t account a tta ch ed to th em w hen i t is remembered how
v e r y crude were th e m e th od s ad opted by m an y e tym o lo g ists o f th o se d ays, before
th e stud y o f p h ilo lo g y was p la c ed on an y secure ba sis. I t is to be hoped th a t th e
a id th e E d ito r h a s r e ceiv ed on th e p resent occasion from h is lea rn ed frien ds Prof.
S ke a t, Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. A ld is W r igh t may be more successful.