64 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER Dendrocopus pubescens, (L.) 



Tarrell, ii. p. 485 ; Ibis List, p. 77 ; Picus pubescens, Harting, 

 p. 122. 



The Downy Woodpecker being a North American 

 bird, common to the Eastern United States, it is diffi- 

 cult to account for its occurrence in Dorsetshire. 

 The Rev. O. P. Cambridge, however, possesses one 

 which was shot at Bloxworth in December 1836. 

 (See The Zoologist, 1859, p. 6444.) 



GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER. Picus martius, L. 



Tarrell, ii. p. 482; Harting, p. 120; Seebohm, ii. p. 368; Ibis 

 List, p. 76 ; Pulteney's List, p. 6 ; Dryocopus martius, 

 Dresser, v. p. 3. 



The Great Black Woodpecker is included here on 

 the authority of Pulteney, who writes : " Body 

 black, cap scarlet. Shot in the Nursery Garden, 

 Blandford ; also at Whitchurch and other places in 

 Dorset." Considering the wide geographical range 

 of this bird, which inhabits the pine forests of 

 Northern and Central Europe, and occurs also in 

 Spain (fide Lord Lilford), there seems nothing im- 

 probable in its reported appearance in the British 

 Islands ; although recent authorities, notwithstand- 

 ing the numerous records of its appearance and 

 capture, demur to its claim to be regarded as an 

 occasional visitant to this country. 



