WOODPECKERS 399 



entrusted for })reservatioD, although the owner be- 

 lieves that the bird in his possession is the one he 

 shot wlien a boy. 



GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. Golaptes auratm 

 (Linnasus). Length, 11-5 in. ; bill, 1'75 in. ; wing, 

 G*6 in. ; tarsus, 1'2 in. 



Hah. Eastern United States, westward to the great 

 Plains, northward to Hudson's Bay and Alaska. 



One, Amesbury Park, Wilts, autumn 1836 : Marsh, ZooL, 

 1859, p. 6327. 



Ohs. Mr. Marsh writes: "My brother, now 

 Member for Salisbury, saw this bird in the flesh 

 before it was preserved ; it was brought to him just 

 after it was shot. It was preserved by Mr. Edwards 

 of Amesbury, and has never been out of my posses- 

 sion." A most extraordinary occurrence. In my 

 opinion not one of the three American woodpeckers 

 here noticed has the slightest claim to recognition 

 amongst British birds. If the reported specimens 

 were not "set up" from foreign skins, as is likely, 

 they must have been imported and contrived to 

 escape. 



Fam. CUCULID^. 



GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO. Coccystes glandarius 

 (Linnyeus). Length, 16 in. ; bill, 1*25 in. ; wing, 8*5 

 in. ; tarsus, 1-3 in. 



Hah. Southern and Central Europe, as far east as 

 Persia ; wintering in Africa. 



One, Omey Island, co. Galway, March 1842 : Ball, Ann. 

 Nat. Hist, 1843 ; Thompson, " Nat. Hist. Ireland 



