TREE-CLIMBING BIRDS 149 



other species have occurred in Great Britain, in- 

 cluding the Black, the American Spotted, and the 

 Three-toed ; but two alone, the Great and the Lesser 

 Spotted, can be classed as truly English birds. 

 They are both less common than their green con- 

 gener, the smaller being the rarer bird of the 

 two, although Lord Lilford states that in North- 

 amptonshire the Lesser Spotted is the most abun- 

 dant of all the Woodpeckers. In their general 

 habits, mode of progression, and so forth, both 

 these birds largely follow the Green Woodpecker, 

 but their plumage at once sets them apart. The 

 upper surface of each is glossy black, barred with 

 white ; in the Greater, the back of the head and 

 the lower part of the breast is scarlet; and in the 

 Lesser the whole crown of the head is scarlet, 

 but the colour is lacking beneath. In the females 

 of both species the conspicuous scarlet hue is 

 wanting. 



The jarring sounds which proceed from the 

 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are so singular that 

 it is by no means easy to learn how they are pro- 

 duced. It was at one time thought that the crack- 

 ing, or snapping noise, was a cry, whilst other 

 observers believed that the bird placed its bill in a 

 hole and rattled it to and fro. The sound is now- 

 known to arise merely from the tapping of the 

 bird's bill upon some hollow trunk or branch. As 

 one writer, quoted by Yarrell, says, " The motion 

 is so quick as to be invisible, and the head appears 

 to be in two places at once;" adding, "it is sur- 

 prising, and to me wondrously pleasing, to observe 

 the many varieties of tone and pitch in their loud 



