PICIDM— WO OD PECKERS. 



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Family PICID^. 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker : Dendrocopus minor. 



A rare resident, though it occurs from time to time, and is occa- 

 sionally found breeding in most parts of the county, and is even 

 common round Danbury. ^^ _ _^^^ 



Mr. Clarke mentions specimens, 

 which occurred respectively one in 

 the churchyard and another in a 

 garden, at Saffron Walden, on 

 March 2nd, 1830, one in Audley 

 End Park in 1847, and another on 

 a walnut tree at the Roos, in Feb- 

 ruary, 1852. On June 14th, 1881, 

 I saw a nest containing both eggs 

 and young in an old rotten dam- 

 son tree in a garden on the out- 

 skirts of the town. Mr. C. Wal- 

 ford records (19) several killed at 

 Braxted about 1838. My uncle, 

 Mr. David Christy, has a speci- 

 men shot at Stanford Rivers about 

 1873. One was seen here several 

 times about the middle of Decem- 

 ber, 1877, and another at the end 

 of November, 1879. Dr. Bree lesser s.ottkd woodpeckers, 



mentions one at Tiptree in April, 1870 (29. May 7). Henry Doubleday, in 

 1832, says (10), " I have seen it here [Epping] once or twice." Again, in 

 1840, he wrote (10), "it is, as far as my observation goes, very rare [round 

 London]. « * » A solitary, straggling individual or two, is all I ever heard of 

 anywhere round us." In the Forest, nowadays, however, Mr. Buxton says (47. 

 86) that it is " not very uncommon." Mr. Lisier adds, " Three times seen in my 

 garden at Leytonstone." English includes it (43. i. 24) in his Epping list, as also 

 does Edward Doubleday (15). A female was killed at Wix in February, 1888 

 (Spalding). Mr. Kerry records one (40. iii. 182) on February 2nd, 1879, at Ram- 

 sey, where he says it is " very rare." Mr. Chas. Ed. Smith says (31. 53) that it is 

 "occasionally shot in the woods of Mr. Honeywood, Marks Hall." Mr. Hope 

 says it is common at Upminster, and observes that it " generally descends a busli 

 or small tree tail first." It occurs in the Colchester district (Laver). The only 

 part of the county where it is at all common seems to be that round Danbury, where 

 Mr. Smoothy tells me he meets with it fairly often in the extensive woods, Mr. 

 Fitch has known three or four taken in nets used to protect young peas in a 

 garden at Wixoe, on the Stour, and has also seen it five or six times round Ma'don, 



[Great Black Woodpecker: Piciis martins. 



A doubtful British bird, which has often been erroneously recorded 

 as occurring in the United Kingdom (on one occasion in Essex), but 

 there is not sufficient evidence to justify its being regarded as a British 

 species.] 



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