268 LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



in other parts of the south it is either comparatively rare or has been 

 overlooked. There also it is to a considerable extent a migrant, 

 but in the Azores, strange to say, it is a resident species. 



The nest-hole is often made in the highest branches of poplars 

 and other tall trees, but sometimes at very moderate elevations in 

 oaks, chestnut- and fruit-trees, or even in pollard willows. The 

 eggs, laid about the middle of May, and usually 6-7 in number, 

 resemble those of the Wryneck ; but their texture is more ivory-like, 

 and their colour more creamy-white, while in size they are slightly 

 smaller: average measurements 75 by "57 in. The food consists 

 almost entirely of timber-haunting insects. The usual note is an 

 often repeated keek, but the male further produces a vibrating noise 

 like that made by the preceding species. In its flight and general 

 habits this bird hardly differs from its congener, except perhaps in 

 its extreme restlessness. 



The adult male has the forehead buff; crown of the head pale 

 crimson ; nape and moustache black ; cheeks white ; upper parts 

 black broadly barred with white ; central tail-feathers black, the rest 

 black barred with white ; under parts buffish-white, with black 

 streaks on the flanks. Length about 5-5 in. ; wing 375 in. In the 

 female the crown is whitish instead of crimson, and the under parts 

 are more striated. The young male has a crimson crown as in the 

 adult, but it is said that in the female only the fore part of the 

 head is red, and the black and white chequerings of the back are 

 less pure. 



The Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge has a specimen of the North 

 American Downy Woodpecker, D. piihesceus, supposed to be a bird 

 which he shot at Bloxworth in Dorset, in December 1836 ; and an 

 example of this species has also been killed near Elbeuf, in Nor- 

 mandy ; American ' Spotted Woodpeckers ' are, however, known to 

 have been brought to Europe and turned loose more than a century 

 ago {Cf. Yarrell, 4th Ed., ii. p. 485). An American Golden-winged 

 Woodpecker, Colaptes aura/us, is said to have been shot at Ames- 

 bury, Wilts, in 1836. As regards the Black Woodpecker, Fkus 

 martins, Mr. J. H. Gurney jun. and Professor Newton have, I think, 

 conclusively shown that, in spite of its numerous recorded occur- 

 rences in the British Islands, there is not one sufficiently authen- 

 ticated to justify insertion. Donovan's statement in 1809, that an 

 example of the Three-toed Woodpecker, Pico'ides tridactyliis, had 

 lately been shot in the North of Scotland is unsubstantiated. 



