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THE GEEAT BLACK WOODPECKER IN ENGLAND. 

 [By E. Cambridge Phillips, F.L.S., M.P.I.O.C, M.B.O.U., &c.*] 



The disinclination on the part of Professor Newton and Messrs. Seebohm and 

 Saunders to give Picus martius a place in the List of British Birds is now well 

 known to ornithologists, and doubtless their decision was arrived at after a careful 

 and painstaking enquiry. It is not with the slightest intention of setting my 

 humble opinion against theirs that I offer these few remarks. The publication in 

 the " Birds of Herefordshire," of a distinct statement of the occurrences of Picus 

 martius in that county has re-opened the question, and as the statement has called 

 forth many letters on the subject, it has seemed to me worth while to notice the 

 reported occurrences of this bird in this paper, alluding principally to those 

 mentioned in the " Birds of Herefordshire," in the hope that its omission from the 

 List of British Birds may be reconsidered. 



First, I must mention Mr. Harting's list in his well-known and useful 

 " Handbook of British Birds." There he enumerates thirty-three instances of its 

 reported appearance, out of which eight are considered to be doubtful. Professor 

 Newton, however, who seems to have taken great pains in the matter, states, in 

 the 4th edition of Yarrell's Birds, that Mr. J. H. Gurney has critically revised 

 this list, and has completely disposed of the claims set up in nearly every instance. 

 I may, however, point out that the two shot at Nottingham, and referred to by 

 Macgillivray, whose name carries considerable weight, seem to have been certified 

 by the person who procured them. 



I next come to those instances recorded in the "Birds of Herefordshire," 

 and which have attracted far greater attention than anything else in the book, as 

 evidenced by the controversy which has arisen on the subject. The statements of 

 the Rev. Clement Ley are undoubtedly of the greatest value, because he has heard 

 the cry of the bird when on the Continent, and even an adverse critic says that 

 his statements are deserving of the greatest consideration. The Rev. Clement 

 Ley states with great distinctness that he saw Picus martius in Ruckhall Woods, 

 Eaton Bishop, about the year 1874, in company with Mr. Edward W. du Buisson, 

 that he and his daughter also saw it and heard it at Mount Edgecombe in Devon- 

 shire in 1876, and that he heard its cry twice unmistakably in Pengethley Gorse, 

 Ross, once unmistakably in the parish of Fownhope (certainly a most likely place), 

 and once dubiously, distant, and uncertain, in the parish of Little Doward ; and 

 what is of the utmost value in cases like this, he adds, he jjossessed the faculty, 

 and still retains it, of never forgetting the note of any bird which he has once 

 heard, and he points out that without the knowledge of this note (and I quite 

 agree with him) he would have been unable to recognise the bird. He graphically 

 adds : — " Can any sane man have mistaken Picus martius flying at less than 

 twenty yards distance towards the north-east of the observer, the sun being in the 



*Member of the Permanent International Ornithological Committee ; Member of the 

 British Ornithological Union. 



