PICIN/t. 275 



'I 



GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Dendrocopus major (Linnaeus). 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker is often supposed to be rarer 

 than it really is, in consequence of its retiring nature and its habit 

 of confining itself to the higher branches of trees ; but nowhere in 

 the British Islands can it be considered abundant. It is, however, 

 fairly distributed throughout the wooded portions of England, and 

 though naturally rare in the treeless parts of Cornwall, and scarce in 

 Wales (where it is increasing in Brecon), it is not infrequent in 

 many of the southern and midland counties. North of Durham it 

 becomes rare as a breeding species ; and in Scotland, where it 

 formerly nested up to the Moray basin, it has only recently been 

 found breeding in the south-east. Unlike our other Woodpeckers, 

 this species is an irregular migrant from the Continent, and occurs 

 in autumn from the Shetlands and Orkneys southward, especially 

 along the east coast : sometimes in considerable numbers. In 

 Ireland it is not known to breed, but examples have been obtained 

 at long intervals ; several having been taken in the autumn of 1886, 

 one in February 1887, many in 1889, and one in 1890. 



This Woodpecker has wandered to the Faroes, and is the only 



