266 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



64° N. lat. ; and — subject to an increase in the extent or purity of 

 white in its plumage which has given rise to the creation of several 

 questionably valid species — it can be traced across Siberia to the 

 Pacific and Japan. Between the Persian Gulf and the Mediter- 

 ranean other forms are observed, which show in addition a tendency 

 to develop a crimson band on the breast — a coloration which 

 reaches its highest point in D. numidicus of North Africa ; but it 

 should be mentioned that Continental and even British examples 

 sometimes exhibit distinct signs of a red pectoral band. In the 

 Canaries our northern form was obtained by Mr. Godman. 



The nesting-hole, smaller than that made by the preceding species, 

 is generally hacked out in a similar manner ; but, according to 

 good authorities, a natural cavity in a dead branch is sometimes 

 prolonged and utilized, and several holes are often cut out before 

 the bird is satisfied. The eggs, laid on the bare wood about the 

 middle of May, are 6-7 in number, creamy-white in colour, and in 

 shape rather less pyriform than those of the Green Woodpecker : 

 average measurements "98 by 75 in. Incubation, in which both 

 parents take part, lasts about a fortnight. In captivity it has been 

 noticed that this bird descends by a series of jerks with the tail 

 downwards, but the mode of progression usually observed in the 

 wild state is diagonally or spirally upwards. The food consists of 

 insects and their larvas, but in autumn the berries of the mountain- 

 ash, nuts, acorns &c. are eaten. The note is a sharp tchick, and some- 

 times a low, reiterated tra, but the male often makes a loud vibrating 

 noise by rapidly hammering with his bill on the bark of a tree. 



In the male the general plumage of the upper parts is black ; the 

 forehead dull white ; cheeks and ear-coverts white ; nape crimson ; 

 scapulars white ; wing-feathers barred with white on the outer webs ; 

 under parts dull white; vent crimson. Length 9*4 in. ; wing 5*5 in. 

 The female is slightly smaller and has no red on the head. The 

 young of both sexes have the c/own of the head red, and ignorance 

 of this fact has led to the supposition that the Middle-spotted 

 Woodpecker, D. /nedius, had occurred in the British Islands. 



A bird, supposed to be a specimen of the White-backed Wood- 

 pecker, D. leiuonotus, was obtained in the Shetlands during the 

 migration of 1S61, and figured by Gould ; but Professor Newton and 

 other authorities have pronounced it to be merely a slightly albes- 

 cent Great Spotted Woodpecker. An example of the American 

 Hairy Woodpecker, D. villosus, is said to have been obtained in 

 Yorkshire more than a century ago, and another in 1849. 



