The language of the green woodpecker, or yaffle, as he is called in the southern counties, adds greatly to his attractiveness; his ringing cry is a sound to rejoice the hearer. Many of the woodpeckers have extremely powerful voices, and the cry of the great black woodpecker of continental Europe has been described by one familiar with it as being like the ‘yell of a demon.’ This ‘demon’ must, I imagine, be a very blithe-hearted one, and its ‘yell’ an expression of wild, joyous, woodland life which we should be glad to listen to in England. Our bird’s voice is not so powerful; but who has not been made happier for a whole day by hearing his ‘loud laugh,’ as one of our old poets has called his cry? It is a clear, piercing sound, so loud and sudden that it startles you, full of wild liberty and gladness; and when I listen for and fail to hear it in park or forest, I feel that I have missed a sound for which no other bird cry or melody can compensate me. This species is found in woods and parks throughout England as far north as Derbyshire and the south of Yorkshire; farther north he is very rare as a breeder, and in Ireland is only known as a straggler. In seeking his food he climbs obliquely up the trunk, until, having mounted to the higher branches, he passes with a dipping flight to the next tree, invariably alighting near the roots. In summer he feeds a great deal on the ground, especially on ants, of which he is very fond. The breeding-hole is usually made in a soft-wooded tree; it is carried straight to the heart of the wood, and is then extended downwards to the depth of about a foot. In most cases it is found that the heart of the tree selected by the birds is rotten, although outwardly no signs of decay may appear. The hole ends in a chamber in which the eggs are deposited on a slight bed of chips; the eggs are four to seven in number, are oval in form and have pure white polished shells. The young when fledged come out of their cell in the tree’s heart, and creep about the bark for some days before they are able to fly. The same breeding-hole is used for several years, if not taken possession of by a pair of marauding starlings, which not unfrequently happens. Wryneck. Iÿnx torquilla. Upper parts reddish grey, irregularly spotted and lined with brown and black; a broad black and brown band from the back of the head to the back; under parts dull white, tinged with buff, and barred with dark brown, except on the breast and belly, where the markings become arrow-headed in form; outer web of the quills marked with rectangular, alternate black and yellowish red spots; tail-feathers barred with black zigzag bands; beak and feet olive-brown. Length, seven inches. * * * * * [Illustration: FIG. 62.--WRYNECK. ⅓ natural size.]