GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 473 



the nest, they can be reared without much difficulty ; but 

 as they grow older they require more care and accommoda- 

 tion to keep them in health than most people are willing to 

 bestow,* and consequently do not long survive in captivity. 



This species occurs all over England, and appears to 

 breed in every county except Cornwall, Westmoreland and 

 Cumberland ; but it seems to be more common in the 

 western midlands than elsewhere, and certainly becomes 

 rarer northwards, so much so that in Northumberland 

 Mr. Hancock has known only one instance of its nesting. 

 In Scotland the counties of Perth, Aberdeen, Banff and 

 Inverness are alone recorded as those it inhabits in the 

 breeding-season, and even then in very small numbers.! 

 But at other times of the year, and in autumn especially, 

 it is much more generally dispersed, so as indubitably to 

 shew that it is an immigrant — a conclusion long ago 

 announced by Selby, who, in 1833, wrote that " In Northum- 

 berland scarcely a year passes without some of these birds 

 being obtained in the months of October and November. 

 This induces me to suppose that they are migratory in some 

 of the more northern parts of Europe, perhaps in Norway 

 and Sweden. They arrive about the same time as the Wood- 

 cock and other equatorial migrants ; and generally after 

 stormy weather from the north or north-east." The fact 

 has since been fully substantiated. In those months of 

 1849 many examples were shot near Newcastle-on-Tyne 

 (Zool. p. 2770), and in the autumn of 18G1 a visitation, 

 composed chiefly, it would seem, of birds of the year, was 

 traced at intervals, mainly on the east coast, from the most 

 northerly of the Shetland* + (Zool. p. 7932) to the Isle of 

 Wight (Zool p. 7847) — the occurrences in Norfolk and 



* Writing in 1839, Mr. Yarrell said tli.it some years before lie saw a brood of 

 this species, which had been taken and caged by a gate-keeper of Kensington 

 Gardens. It was then frequently to be seen and heard there, but it does not 

 seem to have been observed of late (Zool. 1ST! 1 , p. 288). 



f On this subject see Mr. Barvie Brown's paper (Zool. l ss n, p. B5). 



+ One of tli.' lirt birds shot there (Sept. 8d) has however been declared by 



Gould to belong to another species, of which re presently. An Interesting 



account of the behaviour of these castaways is given by Saxby. 



