92 BIRDS. SCANSORES. Yunx. 



Middle-spotted Woodpecker of British writers.— The jarring noise made by the 

 woodpeckers, especially during the breeding season, is produced by repeated 

 strokes of the bill on the dead branch of a tree. 



124. P. minor. Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. — Upper part 



of the back and rump black ; the middle and scapulars white 



and black; beneath greyish white. 



Will Orn. 94. Sibb. Scot. 15. Linn. Syst. i. 176. Perm. Brit. Zool. i. 

 245. Temm, Orn. i. 399.— E, Hickwall, Crank-bird; W, Delor fraith 

 beiaf. — Frequents the south and west of England. 



Length 6, breadth 12 inches ; weight not an ounce. Bill and legs grey ; 

 irides red. Front grey, crown red, nape and stripe over the eye black. The 

 cheeks and sides of the neck white. From the gape a stripe of black de- 

 scends to the shoulders. Quills and tail-feathers black, with white spots. 



Female destitute of the red on the crown, its place supplied with white Nest 



in trees. Eggs 5, purplish-white — Sibbald records this species, probably by 

 mistake, as Scottish. 



STBAGGLERS. 



1. P. martins. Great Black Woodpecker. — In this species, which is 18 in- 

 ches long, and 29 broad, and upwards of 10 ounces in weight, the plumage is 

 black, with the exception of the crown, which is of a bright red. Quills 19 ; 

 tail-feathers 10. This bird was unknown to Willoughby as a British species. 

 Dr Pulteney, in his Catalogue of the Birds of Dorsetshire, says, " Shot in 

 the nursery garden at Blandford ; also at Whitchurch, and other places in 

 Dorsetshire," p. 6. Montagu, in his Supplement to the Orn. Diet., adds, 

 " Lord Stanley assures us, that he shot a Picus martius in Lancashire ; and 

 we have heard that another was shot in the winter of 1805, on the trunk of 

 an old willow tree in Battersea Fields." There is no evidence, however, of 

 its breeding here, or even performing annual visits. 



2. P. villosus. Hairy Woodpecker — In this species, which is nearly 9 in- 

 ches long, and about 2 ounces in weight, the plumage, above, is black, with 

 a white stripe of hair-like feathers down the middle of the back, The nape 

 has a red band, and there are two white stripes on each side of the head. 

 This bird is a native of North America. " Dr Latham mentions having 

 seen a pair in the collection of the Dutchess of Portland, which were shot 

 near Halifax in Yorkshire."— Montagu. 



Gen. LVII. YUNX. Wryneck. — Bill conical, depressed; 

 nostrils naked. The first quill nearly equal to the second. 

 Tail-feathers 10, soft and flexible. 



125. Y. torquilla. Common Wryneck. — Plumage, above, 

 yellowish-grey, mottled with brown specks and arrow-shaped 

 black bands, with a black mesial stripe. 



Will. Orn. 95. Linn. Syst. i. 172. Penn. Brit. Zool. i. 237. Temm. 

 Orn. i. 403 — E, Long-tongue, Emmet Hunter; W, Gwas y gog, 

 Gwddfro — A regular summer visitant. 



Length 74, breadth 11 inches; weight an ounce. Bill and legs yellowish- 

 brown. Irides hazel. Chin and throat yellowish-white. On each side of 

 the breast a patch of wood-brown. Breast and belly white, with arrow- 

 shaped black spots. Quills 19. Tail long, rounded. Female like the male 



Nest in the hole of a tree. Eggs 10, white. — This bird arrives a few days 

 previous to the cuckoo. It is frequent in the southern and eastern counties 



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