70 PICIDiE. 
in the Alameda at Gibraltar ; but they are seldom noticed 
near there, and pass on to districts further north_, where there 
are Magpies {Pica rustica), as they lay in the nests of the 
latter, and occasionally, it is stated, in those of the Spanish 
Magpie {Cyanopica Cookii). The egg can be easily distin- 
guished by its elliptical form, those of the Magpie being 
pointed at one end. They vary a good deal in size and much 
in the markings, like those of the bird whose nest they use. 
It appears that, as far as we yet know, this Cuckoo always 
places its eggs in the nests of the Corvidce. The majority of 
eggs I have seen, mostly obtained by Ruiz of Seville, came 
from the vicinity of Cordova ; there are a good many in the 
Coto del Rey, where I had the satisfaction of shooting the 
first one of these birds I ever saw alive. The Rev. John White 
mentions this Cuckoo as having been killed at Gibraltar. A 
female killed on the 7th of March had the eggs so far developed 
as to show that the probable number of eggs she would have 
laid was four. 
The irides are brown ; there is no difference in the plumage 
of the sexes. The young have rufous secondaries and black 
heads, and are more handsome birds than the adults. 
Family Picid^. 
55. Picus MAJOR, L. The Great Spotted Woodpecker. 
This Woodpecker is very local, and is always to be seen or 
heard among the old alder trees in the Soto gordo of the 
cork-wood of Almoraima. They extend all over that wood, 
up the valleys of the sierras, particularly along that one 
down which runs the river Palm ones. They are common 
near Ojen, also abundant about Pulverilla on the road 
between Casa Vieja and Gibraltar. Further than this I never 
noticed them ; nor did I ever see them in any country where 
oak and alder trees were absent. The local name is Pito real. 
They nest about the first of May in holes of decaying trees, 
and do not appear to be in the slightest degree migi'atory. 
The adult male has a crimson occipital patch. The adult 
female has all the top of the head black, while the young are 
the more gaudily marked, having the top of the head entirely 
