I20 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. Dendrocopns 

 irnajor (Linnaeus). PI. 16, figs. 8, 9, 10. Length, 

 9-5 in. ; bill, 1 in. ; wing, 5-5 in. ; tarsus, 1 in. 



Resident in England, and in a few instances has 

 been noticed in Ireland. In the autumn of 1889 

 six were shot in Ulster, two in Leinster, one in 

 Munster; and in Jan. 1890, one in Co. Kerry. It is 

 a well-known winter visitant throughout Scotland, 

 and specimens have been obtained in almost every 

 county. " It has been known to breed in limited 

 numbers in Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, and a portion 

 of Inverness-shire " (R Gray). Numerous in Orkney 

 and Shetland in the autumn of 1861 (Saxby, Zool., 

 1862, p. 7932) ; and in Caithness (W. Reid, of Wick, 

 Land and Water, Dec. 16, 1876), and has been met 

 with in Skye (Zool, 1889, p. 269). 



In 1873 a curious variety of this Woodpecker 

 was shot in the New Forest by James Gulliver, a 

 woodman of Brockenhurst. With the exception of 

 the red feathers on the head and under the tail, 

 the bird was perfectly white (Zool., 1876, p. 4797). 

 As to habits in captivity, see Zool., 1883, p. 473. 



LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER, Dendrocopus 

 minor (Linnaeus). PI. 16, figs. 12, 13, 13a. Length, 

 575 in.; bill, 075 in.; wing, 3-5 in.; tarsus, 0'6 in. 



Resident in England. In regard to Scotland, it 

 is included in Don's "Fauna of Forfarshire" and in 

 Pennant's "Caledonian Zoology," and is stated to 

 have been observed in Caithness in a garden near 



