. An illustrated manual of British birds . posed to foretell rain, for which reason Rainbird is a common name in some parts ; as are Yaffle andWoodweele. In search of timber-haunting beetles, spiders andother insects, this Woodpecker may be seen climbing obliquely upsome trunk or branch with short jerking movements, assisted by thestiff-pointed feathers of the tail, until, on arriving at the top, itpasses with dipping flight to some other tree; it also feeds to agreat extent on ants in summer, and on other ground-insectsduring the great part of the year, while it has been said to eat nutsand a
. An illustrated manual of British birds . posed to foretell rain, for which reason Rainbird is a common name in some parts ; as are Yaffle andWoodweele. In search of timber-haunting beetles, spiders andother insects, this Woodpecker may be seen climbing obliquely upsome trunk or branch with short jerking movements, assisted by thestiff-pointed feathers of the tail, until, on arriving at the top, itpasses with dipping flight to some other tree; it also feeds to agreat extent on ants in summer, and on other ground-insectsduring the great part of the year, while it has been said to eat nutsand acorns. The upper plumage of the male is chiefly olive-green, shading intoyellow on the rump ; under parts pale greyish-green ; crown, nape andmoustaches crimson; lores and cheeks black. Length 12 in.; wing64 in. The female has less crimson on the head, and the mous-taches are black. In the young the under parts are barred ; thenestling is mottled on the back and profusely spotted with arrow-headed markings on the under parts. 265. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. Dendrocopus major (Linnaeus). The Oreat Spotted Woodpecker is often supposed to be rarerthan it really is, in consequence of ils retiring nature and its habitof confining itself to the higher branches of trees, but nowhere inthe British Islands can it be considered abundant. It is, however,fairly distributed throughout the wooded portions of England, andthough naturally rare in the treeless parts of Cornwall, and scarce inWales, it is not unfrequent in many of the southern and midlandcounties. North of Yorkshire it becomes rare as a breeding species,and there is little evidence that it nests in Scotland at the present■day; but from the Shetlands southward, especially along the eastcoast of Great Britain, it occurs irregularly on the autumn migra-tion, sometimes in considerable numbers, as in 1861, 1862, 1868and 1886. In Ireland it is not known to breed, but it has been•obtained at long intervals ; several were ta
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