AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 267 



in some parts of England ; but, beyond the fact that 

 most arboreal birds are more restless and noisy in 

 rough than in calm weather, we have failed to verify 

 the idea just mentioned. On this subject, and indeed 

 on all others connected with British bird -lore, we 

 refer our readers to the often-quoted 4th edition of 

 Yarrell's ' British Birds.' 



112. GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Dendrocopus major. 



This bird, although the least common of our 

 Woodpeckers in this district, is by no means rare, 

 though Morton, in his ' Natural History of North- 

 amptonshire,' says of it : " The greater Spotted 

 Wood-pecker, Hiirpa, Arist. In ten Years Time I 

 have seen no more than Three of them : One in 

 Thorp Underwood Lordship, another in Brampton 

 Wood, the Third at Oxendon." From its shy and 

 solitary habits this species is more frequently heard 

 than seen, and even its ordinary note, a sharp mono- 

 syllable, though loud and unlike that of any of our 

 own common birds, often passes unnoticed by the 

 many who are not acquainted with the bird. In this 

 neighbourhood we generally meet with this Wood- 

 pecker on the outskirts of our large oak-woods in the 

 spring and summer, but it is a great wanderer, and 

 when our trees are bare of leaves it would be difficult 

 to say where there is not a chance of seeing or hearing 

 a Pied Woodpecker, by which name it is commonly 

 known hereabouts. In general habits this bird 

 much resembles the Green Woodpecker, but is, as 

 mentioned in Yarrell's 4th edition, less often to be 



