ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM A SOUTH LONDON SUBURB. 
LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
The Lesser Spotted is now represented here by about two 
pairs, and, being observable throughout the year, must, of 
course, breed in the neighbourhood, though I have never been 
able to locate the nest. The ordinary call of the bird is not 
loud, but the queer “jarring” note made against a dead bough 
—the love-call of spring—would arrest the attention of any- 
one. It is usually first heard towards the end of March, and 
rarely after the middle of May; both sexes seem capable of 
making the “music.” On the whole, it is a quiet bird, and 
easily overlooked even when the trees are bare, for it will cease 
all climbing movements if it thinks it 1s observed, and, although 
unmistakable when seen on the wing, its flight is rarely pro- 
longed for any great distance. The favourite hunting ground 
for the species is among the ancient elms and oaks still plenti- 
ful in the Dulwich, Sydenham, and Crystal Palace district, 
and it is owing to the number of these fine trees that we still 
have the bird with us as a resident. 
NUTHATCH. 
This ought more properly to be mentioned as a past resid- 
ent, for I have no record of its nesting here since 1901, and 
have not, in fact, observed the bird more than twice since that 
date. 
In looking back, however, only a few years, I can remem- 
ber when its lively whistle in spring was one of the most regular 
of the pleasing notes indicative of that season, beginning usually 
at the end of March or the beginning of April. This was a 
regular note at the time when Brockwell Park was a private 
property, but I have never heard or seen the bird there since 
it was opened to the public. Until 1901—as mentioned 
above—it nested regularly in Dulwich Wood, in an oak tree 
within a few yards of the public road. In the grounds of the 
Crystal Palace I have on several occasions come across the 
bird, and once on Tooting Common. 
CREEPER. 
Never having observed the bird with any regularity, I 
should scarcely have called it resident; but, from the fact that 
in 1900 I observed one in the same part of Dulwich Wood from 
April to September, it may be presumed that it was one of a 
pair nesting there. Being so feeble in voice and so mouse- 
like in its movements, the bird might often be present and yet 
escape notice, and therefore its only occasional appearance 
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