"He who makes his native wood
Resound his screaming, harsh and rude,
Continuously the season through;
Though scarce his painted wing you'll view
With sable barred, and white and grey,
And varied crest, the lonely Jay!"
GREEN WOODPECKER.
LARGE GREEN WOODPECKER. NICK-A-PECKER. ECLE. HIGH-HOE. HEW-HOLE. AWL, OR RAIN-BIRD, OR FOWL. POPINJAY. WHITTLE. YAFFLE. YAFFER. YAPPINGALL. WOODSPITE. WOODWALL, OR WELE.
FIGURE 11.
We have in England six species of Woodpeckers, namely, the Black, the Green, the Greater Spotted, the Lesser Spotted, the Hairy, and the Three-toed, but only the one above-named is at all common. It is a handsome bird, with green and brown plumage, prettily marked and barred with white; the bill is large and black, which colour extends over the sides of the head and part of the throat; there is a light-coloured rim round the eye, and a crest like a crimson cap, also a few feathers of the same rich colour set in the black patches of the throat. A truly handsome bird, rather awkward in appearance, on account of the shortness of the tail, and the large size of the feet, head, and bill. A shy, unsocial bird, too; not fond of exhibiting its beauties; for ever tap-tapping the hollow beech, or other tree, in the depth of the solitary woods; often heard but seldom seen, and when it is, in all sorts of inelegant positions, creeping up or down the rugged bole, clinging to the broken bough, crouching close, and peeping and peering into every hole and crevice, in search of its favourite food—insects and their eggs, spiders, and grubs and caterpillars; and boring into the decayed bark with its hard wedge-shaped bill. The old poet Chaucer describes a very busy, inquisitive person as being
"As prate and prying as a Woodpecker,
And ever inquiring upon everything."