THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 263 



1875, Mr. Hardy mentions that in summer one was seen 

 clinging to a paling on the coast near Dnnglass ; ^ and, in 



1876, he says that three were seen in Penmanshiel Wood 

 some years before that date, one of them being observed 

 near the Tower Farm,^ According to Mr. Eobert Waite, 

 Blinkbonnie, Duns, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was shot 

 at Threeburn Grange, near Coldingham, in November 1876.^ 

 Mr. George Fortune, architect. Duns, says that he saw one 

 on a tree in a plantation by the side of the public road near 

 Lougformacus, some years ago ; his attention having been 

 drawn to the bird by the noise which it made in striking 

 the tree with its bill. A female was killed at the White 

 Gate on Blackerston estate, near The Eetreat, in January 

 1879, and is now in the possession of Mr. Hogg of Quix- 

 wood. The gamekeeper at Abbey St, Bathans states that 

 he saw a specimen on a Scotch fir in Lippie Plantation, in 

 November 1886, having heard it tapping with its bill at a 

 distance of forty yards ; and Mr. Pringie, Ayton Castle, tells 

 me that his gamekeeper shot a male at the kennels there, 

 on the 20th of November 1887 ; while on the 2nd of January 

 1888, Mr. Mitchell-Innes of Ayton was so good as to send 

 to me a beautiful specimen of the female, which was shot 

 by him near Ayton Castle, shortly before that date. 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker is an irregular autumn 

 visitor to the county, being seen in small numbers in some 

 years, such as 1868, whilst many years sometimes elapse 

 without any being observed. It comes with the migratory 

 flocks of birds which visit our shores from the northern 

 parts of Europe at the season mentioned, and it has been 

 occasionally observed on migration at the lighthouses on 

 the coasts of Scotland and England.'* 



1 nist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vii. p. 514. - Ibid. vol. viii. p. 193. 



2 Ibid. vol. viii. p. 196. 



* See Reports on the Migration of Birds, 1879-85. 



