GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER IN SCOTLAND 17 



The Starling. — How much the former increase of the 

 Starling, subsequent decrease, and again vast increase, may 

 have affected the Woodpecker, directly or indirectly, is a 

 subject for further investigation. It certainly has been the 

 means of lessening the numbers of the Great Spotted Wood- 

 peckers in certain districts in England. An assertive species 

 like the Starling often may figure forth, when approaching 

 in successive waves of dispersal, as a power for good or evil ; 

 but at present I cannot say we have any reliable data to go 

 by ; indeed, at the present day, there are few Starlings at all 

 in the midst of the old Woodpecker tracts. But these 

 successive waves of Starlings — about which there appears to 

 be little doubt — are of themselves worthy of tracing out, and 

 cannot fail to yield results. 



At present, at all events, we stand at the following points 

 of our inquiry : — • 



The facts and dates (approximate) of the decrease and 

 disappearance of the Woodpecker from areas indubitably 

 occupied by them commonly previous to 1850. 



The facts and dates of the decline, increase, and enormous 

 recuperation of the Squirrel, to a great extent coinciding 

 with the decline of the bird. 



The facts and dates of the former abundance, decline, 

 destruction from various causes of old forests, principal 

 amongst which appears to have been fire ; and these dates 

 coinciding on the one hand with the young planting, going 

 on down Speyside, and on the other with the decrease of the 

 Woodpecker. 



The facts, figures, and dates connected with the young 

 plantations on Speyside, the attaining of the same to a 

 certain age, coincident with the resuscitation of the native 

 Squirrels of Speyside, not to say also with the introductions 

 of Squirrels in various parts of Scotland, from Dalkeith in 

 the south, to Beaufort Castle in the north (see " The Squirrel 

 in Scotland "). 



