368 BRITISH BIRDS. 
under tail-coverts ; and young in first plumage are barred throughout on 
both the upper and underparts, the black on the lores, ear-coverts, and the 
space round the eye is absent, and the black on the cheeks is spotted with 
pale brown in the female and with scarlet in the male. 
Varieties of the Green Woodpecker occasionally occur in which the green 
colour of the plumage almost approaches orange. 
The Black Woodpecker (Picus martius) has been included in the list of 
British birds by most ornithologists, and long lists of its alleged occur- 
rences in our islands have been published. ‘These have been carefully 
investigated by Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. (Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 12), with 
the result that no authentic instance of the occurrence of the Black Wood- 
pecker in this country can be found. ‘There is no bird less addicted to 
migration than this species, and it is a bird of too powerful flight to be 
driven from its native pine-forests by even the heaviest gales. It is 
one of the few European birds that have never occurred on the island of 
Heligoland. The Black Woodpecker may possibly have inhabited the 
pine-forests of North Britain in the pre-historic ages, when the Capercaillie 
occasionally fell a victim to the lynx on the banks of the Tees; but, in the 
absence of any evidence of its occurrence in our islands, this bird cannot 
be admitted into the British list. This fine species is a resident in the 
pine-forests of Central Europe as far south as the Pyrenees and the 
mountains of Asia Minor. In Europe it is found as far north as the Arctic 
circle; and eastwards it extends across Siberia to the north island of 
Japan. It is not found on the main island of Japan, but is a resident 
in East Mongolia and the extreme north of China. In West Siberia 
it is found as far south as the Altai Mountains, but does not appear 
to range further north in Asia than lat. 62°. In its habits and mode 
of unidification it differs very little from the other Woodpeckers. The 
egg is figured on Plate 18. The Black Woodpecker is considerably 
larger than the Green Woodpecker, and is almost uniform black, with a 
broad scarlet stripe extending over the forehead and the crown to the 
nape, but in the female not extending onto the forehead. 
The evidence in favour of the admission of the Middle Spotted Wood- 
pecker (P. medius) into the British list appears to rest upon no better 
authority ; most of the alleged occurrences resolve themselves into cases 
of mistaken identity. The distinguishing feature of this species is the 
scarlet crown; this character being also found in birds of the year of the 
Great Spotted Woodpecker is sufficient to account for the mistake made 
by ornithologists who were not acquainted with the continental species. 
The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is found throughout Continental Europe 
south of the Baltic, extending eastwards through Asia Minor into West 
Persia, though some ornithologists have attempted to prove that the birds 
from the latter locality are specifically distinct. The Middle Spotted 
