LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER 



447 



and the Azores. In England, where it is in some districts considerably 

 the more abundant of the two, this woodpecker has much the same 

 distribution as its larger cousin ; but, as might have been expected 

 from its non-migrator\- habits, it is only a very rare straggler. Much 

 the same may be said with regard to Ireland, where only some six 

 or seven authenticated instances of its occurrence were recorded up 

 to the close of the nineteenth century. There is nothing specially 

 noticeable in the way of habits to be recorded ; and it will suffice to 

 say that the eggs, of which there may be from five to eight in a clutch, 

 vary from a little less to a little more 



than three-quarters of an inch in 'x^" "'^'.~ J-* T^VT - ~ 

 length. i..-^l'Jr ■ ■"''■ 



The British lesser spotted wood- 

 pecker (yDeiidrocopus minor coiiunijiu- 

 tus) differs strikingly from the Scan- 

 dinavian D. Jiiifior typicus by its 

 much shorter wings and tail. The 

 under surface is always huffish. 



Of the Continental Dendrocopns 

 uiedins, the so-called " middle spotted 

 woodpecker," none of the i&w alleged 

 occurrences in Great Britain appear 

 to be authentic. Much the same 

 may be said with regard to the 

 American hairy woodpecker {Dejidro- 

 copus villosus), this being especially 

 the case with a pair recorded from 



Halifax, which may have been brought from the Nova Scotian city of 

 the same name. Neither can any credit be accorded to the alleged 

 occurrence of a specimen of the American downy woodpecker {D. piib- 

 escens) in Dorsetshire in 1836, or of the white-backed woodpecker 

 (Z>. laiconotus) in Shetland. A similar remark applies to the case of 

 a fourth American species, the golden -winged woodpecker {Colaptcs 

 aiiratus), "of which a specimen was reported from Wiltshire in 1836 ; 

 while none of the numerous asserted occurrences of the great black 

 woodpecker {Picus viartius) in our islands appear to be genuine. Of the 

 latest of these supposed occurrences, one is mentioned in Herefordshire 

 in 1902, while others were referred to in 1903, but they are all doubtful. 



i.i:,ssi;k M'urii;i) \vooDPi-:cKF.k 



