446 'PICARIAX' BIRDS 



Skye. On the other hand, only some thirt}-nine instances of the 

 occurrence of this woodpecker were recorded in Ireland up to the 

 close of last century, most of these having taken place in late autumn 

 or early winter on the eastern coast. 



In common with the other pied woodpeckers, this species spends 

 most of its time on trees, where it obtains all its food. An exceedingly 

 shy bird, it has a single-syllabled call-note quite unlike the " laugh " of 

 the yaffle ; but in other respects its general habits are those of the rest 

 of its tribe. The eggs, of which there may occasionally be as many as 

 eight in a clutch, are slightly smaller than those of the green woodpecker. 

 A specimen of this bird in which the parts normally black were wholly 

 white was killed in the New Forest in 1873. 



Compared with D. major typiais from Scandinavia, the British great 

 spotted woodpecker {Doidrocopus major anglicns) differs by its smaller 

 size, more slender and less powerful beak, shorter wing, and generally 

 more brownish under surface. Examples from western Germany come, 

 however, close to the English bird, so that it is uncertain whether the 

 latter is restricted to the British Isles. 



S n d ^^'ith a length of not more than half-a-dozen inches, 

 Woodoecker ^'^*^ '"'^''^ lesser spotted woodpecker may be readily 

 (Dendroeopus distinguished from its larger relative by the 

 minor) retention of the ancestral crimson patch on the 



whole of the crown of the head, as well as by the 

 presence of a large white area on the middle of the back, separated 

 by a broad black band from the white of the neck : the white mark- 

 ings on the wings have much the same arrangement as in the larger 

 species, but the under-parts are bufiish white, streaked with black on 

 the flanks. In the hen the crimson skull-cap is replaced by one of 

 dirty white, and the whole of the under surface shows dark streaks. 

 Young cocks differ from the adults of the same sex by the paler 

 tone of the skull-cap ; while young hens have only the fore part of 

 this cap crimson. The partial retention of this ancestral character in 

 the immature female and its complete disappearance in the adult is a 

 feature of special interest. 



The species has much the same general distribution as its larger 

 relative, though there is still a certain degree of doubt as to whether 

 some of its Siberian and Central Asiatic representatives should be 

 regarded merely as races or as separate species. In Scandinavia it 

 nests as far north as latitude 70" ; and it is noteworthy that while 

 it is rare in the countries of southern Europe, it reappears in Algeria 



