Bi 
7 : 
GREEN WOODPECKER. 369 
Woodpecker differs very little in its habits and mode of nidification from 
its near allies. It is intermediate in size between the Lesser and Greater 
Spotted Woodpeckers, and may at once be distinguished from both of them 
by the absence of the black moustachial line extending from the base of 
the lower mandible. 
The White-backed Woodpecker (P. /ewconotus) was erroneously included 
in the British list and figured in Gould’s ‘ Birds of Great Britain’ on the 
authority of a specimen said to have been shot on one of the Shetland 
Islands in September 1861. T have carefully compared this specimen with 
birds of the year of the Great Spotted Woodpecker from Heligoland, and 
have no doubt whatever that it is an example of immature P. major in 
which the nape and the margins of the primary-coverts are slate-grey 
instead of black—an accidental variety which bears no special resemblance 
to the young of the White-backed Woodpecker. The question is fully 
discussed by Professor Newton (‘Zoologist,’ 1881, p. 399). 
The claim of the Three-toed Woodpecker to be admitted into the British 
list rests solely upon an example said by Donovan to have been “ lately shot 
in the north of Scotland” (Brit. B. vi. pl. 143, 1809). It is very remark- 
able that this species does not occur in Scotland, as it is resident throughout 
Northern Europe and the whole of Siberia up to the Arctic circle, and 
even in the mountainous districts of Central and Southern Europe. 
Three other Woodpeckers, all of them American species, have been 
included amongst the birds that occasionally visit this country, but the 
claims of each are very doubtful. The first of these, the Hairy Wood- 
pecker (Picus villosus), was recorded by Latham (Gen. Syn. Suppl. p. 108), 
who stated that this species had then lately been found in the north of ~ 
England, and that he had seen a pair which had been shot near Halifax 
in Yorkshire by a Mr. Bolton, Another example is said to have been 
killed near Whitby in 1849 (Higgins, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1849, p. 2496, and Bird, 
‘Zoologist,’ 1849, p. 2527). The Hairy Woodpecker, in one of its several 
forms, is a resident in the wooded portions of North America, as far 
north as Sitka, and as far south as Mexico and Central America. It is 
said to frequent orchards and cultivated grounds, and to be less shy than 
the other species. Its habits in other respects and its nidification and the 
colour of its eggs are similar to those of its congeners. It may readily 
be distinguished from the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the only species 
in this country with which it is likely to be confused, by the absence of 
the scarlet on the under tail-coverts. 
Of the second species, the Downy Woodpecker (Picus pubescens), a single 
example is said to have been obtained at Bloxworth im Dorsetshire (Rev. 
O. P. Cambridge, ‘ Zoologist,’ 1859, p. 6444)*. Its geographical distribu- 
* The occurrence of an example of this species, said to have been shot in an orchard 
near Elbeuf in France, appears to be well authenticated (Proc. Zool. Soe. 1881, p. 453). 
VOL. II. 2B 
