REPUTED BRITISH BIRDS. 365 



in skins. Latham recorded two from Halifax, but it is possible 

 that it should have been Halifax, Nova Scotia. 



Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Dryobates inedhis (Linn.). 

 Pennant's Lancashire record cannot be considered satisfactory. 



Three-toed Woodpecker, Picoides tridacfyhcs (Linn.). Scot- 

 land. This record of Donovan's cannot now be investigated. 



Great Black Woodpecker, Dryocopus mai-Hiis (Linn.). There 

 are between thirty and forty records for this bird, which occurs 

 in Scandinavia and might easily cross the North Sea. Un- 

 fortunately it is one of the birds in which unscrupulous dealers 

 dealt ; I have personally come across one case of fraud. In 

 another instance a specimen was bought in a poultry market ; 

 it had come with game from Scandinavia. On the other hand, 

 I know one well-known ornithologist who is absolutely certain 

 that he saw one when he was a boy, and a bird was shot in 

 1897 in Yorkshire. Prior to this date, however, some had been 

 liberated by Lilford. The B.O.U. Committee reject it because 

 every case it was possible to investigate was found by Mr. 

 Gurney and Newton to be unreliable. 



Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Mefops philippiiius Linn. Yorkshire 

 (not Durham as usually stated), 1862. An extraordinary occur- 

 rence never satisfactorily explained ; possibly there was an 

 accidental exchange of skins. 



Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon (Linn.). Two, Ireland, 1845. 

 It is considered that the evidence is insufficient, but this 

 American species is a wanderer, is known as a migrant in 

 Bermuda and has been taken in the Azores. 



Indian Roller, Coracias be7ighalensis (Linn.). Lincolnshire, 

 1883. Possibly there was confusion between skins. 



Abyssinian Roller, Coracias abyssinicus Bodd. Glasgow, 

 1857. Bree's statement about these two birds cannot now be 

 substantiated. 



Saw-whet Owl, Nyctala acadica (Gmelin). Yorkshire, i860. 

 Not proven. 



