352 GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



occurred twice, one specimen, killed in the 

 vicinity of Dublin, being in the museum of the 

 Dublin Royal Society. On the Continent it 

 seems more abundant, but in some parts it is 

 probably partially migratory. Of its extra Euro- 

 pean range we do not know the limits, the 

 Himalayan bird so closely allied to it being 

 apparently distinct.* The habits of this bird are 

 strictly arboreal ; it prefers, we believe, extensive 

 forests, rather than a more woodland country ; 

 feeds chiefly on insects, but often also on seeds 

 and nuts ;f and we were informed by a gentleman 

 long resident in Russia, that the cones of the 

 pines were opened for the seeds, and for this 

 purpose they were carried by the bird to some 

 particular spot, and placed in the cleft of a tree, 

 to be held forth for dissection ; that piles of the 

 cones, after being opened, might be seen in 

 various parts of the forests at the roots of trees, 

 and that one near his own garden was a favourite 

 spot where the birds were often observed at 

 work. 



A male shot in Dumfriesshire in winter, had 

 the forehead yellowish white, the plumes cover- 

 ing the nostrils black ; the plumage above gene- 

 rally of a deep black, relieved by a narrow band 

 or spot on the occiput of arterial blood red, and 

 various patches of white, of which the space 

 around the eyes, the auriculars, a patch on each 

 side of the nape, and the scapular covers, are the 



* See Orn. Illtist. plate 116. t Temminck. 



