The flight of the Green Woodpecker is undulating
and accompanied by loud whirring of the wings ; when
he taps at a tree he taps with all his might; no insect-
food seems to come amiss to him, but he has a very
marked predilection for ants and their eggs, and his
actions at an ant-hill are most quaint and grotesque.
This bird is very wary, and those who wish for his
intimate acquaintance in his native haunts must be very
cautious in their advances.
The five or six beautiful glossy white eggs of the
Green Woodpecker are laid in holes perforated by the
birds in more or less rotten trees, without any nest
whatever. The rapidity with which the Woodpeckers
work through sound wood till they find the decaying
heart of a trunk or bough is little short of miraculous ;
the masses of chips below a hole bear witness to the
labours of the birds, but not always to the occupation
of the particular site, for I have several times found
that the holes have been abandoned without any
apparent cause, even after the soft wood had been
reached.
The young birds leave their nurseries before they can
fly, and clamber about the boughs of its neighbourhood,
generally returning to their hole for the night. Starlings
frequently take possession of the Woodpeckers’
labours, and, by placing their nesting-rubbish in the
holes, disgust the rightful owners, who could certainly
master the intruders in a fair fight. In captivity the
Green Woodpecker becomes very tame and is most
amusing, but requires plenty of room for exercise, as
much variety of food as possible, and a constant supply