GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 113 
moner there than anywhere else in the county. In the 
north of Cheshire the Green Woodpecker is but rarely 
met with ; some years ago one was shot at Northenden, 
and a few pairs nest at Tatton, Rostherne, Dunham, 
and Alderley. It was formerly common at Holmes 
Chapel,’ and still occurs sparingly in that neighbour- 
hood, as well as at Rudheath and Marton. 
Examples have been obtained in Lyme Park, and 
Mr. S. Radcliffe says that the bird nests in Matley 
Woods; but it is, naturally, absent from the treeless 
parts of the Hill Country. 
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
DENDROCOPUS MAJOR (Linneus). 
The Great Spotted Woodpecker, a rather scarce 
resident in Cheshire, occurs sparingly during autumn 
and winter in all parts of the county, but in the 
breeding season it is necessarily confined to woods in 
which it can find suitable nesting-places. 
The bird has seldom been known to breed in Wirral. 
Brockholes states that a pair nested, in May 1860, 
in Patrick Wood near Bromborough Mills? and in 
July 1865 four young birds were obtained at Hooton.* 
Dr. Dobie mentions that a pair were shot in a garden 
at New Brighton in 1887.4 
In Eaton Park and Delamere Forest this species may 
be met with all the year round, and there is presump- 
tive evidence that it has bred recently at Edge, for 
in the spring of 1893 the Rev. C. Wolley-Dod, although 
1 T. W. Barlow, ms. 2 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 9. 
3 W. L. Hayman, Field, vol. xxvii. p. 77. 1866. 
+ Dobie, op. cit. pp. 308, 309. 
H 
