170 EGGS OF BEITISH BIEDS. 



THE FAMILY PICIDyE, 

 OB WOODPECKERS. 



Three species are resident in Great Britain, one, the Wryneck, 

 is a regular summer migrant, and the rest are accidental visitors. 



THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 

 (Picus major.)* 



Plate 48, Fig. 13. 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker is principally a forest bird, and 

 probably breeds in every county in England and Wales wherever 

 the woods are sufficiently extensive and the trees large enough. 

 It is a partial resident in the wooded districts throughout Europe 

 and Siberia, and even in Japan. In Scandinavia it is rarely found 

 north of the Arctic circle ; in Russia it is a common resident up to 

 Archangel, and was obtained by Hoffmann in the Ural Mountains 

 as far north as lat. 63^°. In West Siberia, Sloffzow obtained 

 it at Omsk in lat. 55° ; Theel met with it in the valley of the 

 Yenisei as far north as lat. 60° ; and Middendorff procured it on 

 the Pacific coast of East Siberia in lat. 55°. 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a somewhat late breeder. It 

 seldom has eggs before the middle of May. The hole in which 

 the eggs are deposited is nearly always made by the bird itself, 

 but it is said that a ready-made one is sometimes utilised. Occa- 

 sionally it is made in a large branch, but more frequently in the 

 trunk, and a decayed part is invariably selected. The passage is 

 wonderfully round and smooth, and the end is enlarged into a little 

 sort of chamber, and here the eggs are deposited. 



The bird makes no nest ; the eggs lie upon the powdered wood 

 at the bottom of the hole. They vary from five to seven or eight 

 in number, and are creamy-white with no spots or markings, save 

 an occasional nest-stain. They vary in length from 115 to 095 

 inch, and in breadth from 82 to 0'75 inch. 



* Dcndrocopus major — Sharpe, Handb., II., p. 8. 



