246 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Genus DENDROCOPUS, Koch. 



GBEAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Dendrocojjus major (Linnffius). S.N., i., p. 176 



(1766). 



Great Spotted Woodpecker, Boys, 1792 ; Magpie- 



Galley-birds, Lord Clifton. 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker, although generally 

 distributed throughout the county, is not an abundant 

 species, always keeping to the larger and older woods. 

 They are more often seen in the autumn and winter, and 

 no doubt their numbers are increased from the north, but 

 during the summer they diminish again, going north to 

 the larger and older forests for the breeding season. 



According to Lord Clifton, in his notes on the Birds at 

 Cohham: " Two broods of the Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 were reared there in the summer of 1868." The natives, 

 he says, call them " Magpie-Galley-birds," galley-bird 

 being their name for AVoodpecker. 



Mr. A. Skinner obtained an " adult male of this bird in 

 the summer (1868), shot a mile from Faversham, and a 

 female on November 2, of the same year, shot in Faver- 

 sham churchyard." It is included among the birds of 

 Bethersden, by Captain J. D. Cameron. There are speci- 

 mens in the Maidstone Museum taken at Mereworth, 

 March 13, 1892, and at Linton, July 2, 1897, by Mr. H. 

 Kennard. It has been found at Frith, according to the 

 Rev. C. H. Fielding. Mr. W. Prentis says : " The Great 

 Spotted Woodpeckers, when they do come to Rainham, 

 which is very rarely, invariably come in the month of 

 October." 



