150 AVES 1NSESSORES. [Picos. 



grayish white, with a tinge of yellowish green : primaries dusky, with a 

 regular series of pale yellow spots on the outer wehs : tail-feathers pre- 

 senting alternate bars of green and dusky-brown ; the extreme tips 

 black : bill dusky ; the base of the lower mandible yellowish : irides 

 white : feet pale brown with a tinge of green. In the female, there is 

 less red on the head, and less black about the eyes ; the moustache is 

 entirely black. In very young birds, the red on the head is mixed with 

 yellowish gray ; the green tint on the upper parts paler, and irregularly 

 spotted with ash-gray ; the moustache incomplete ; and the under parts 

 marked with transverse brown bars. (Egg.) Smooth and shining : pure 

 white: long. diam. one inch two lines and a half; trans, diam. ten lines 

 and a half. 



Common in wooded districts throughout the country. Feeds on ants, 

 and other insects ; more especially the larvae of the timber-eating species, 

 which it extracts by means of its long tongue, after having perforated the 

 wood with its bill. Breeds in the holes of trees. Eggs four or five in 

 number, deposited on the rotten wood. 



119. P. major, Linn. (Great Spotted Woodpecker.) 

 , Crown, and upper part of the body, black ; scapulars 

 white; a crimson patch on the occiput. 



P. major, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. i. p. 395. Id. torn. in. p. 281. 



>. L 



Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. 



vol. i. p. 376. pi. 38. f. 3. Pied Woodpecker, Bew. Brit. Birds, 



vol. i. p. 138. 



DIMENS. Entire length nine inches six lines : length of the bill (from 

 the forehead) one inch, (from the gape) one inch three lines ; of the tarsus 

 eleven lines ; of the tail three inches seven lines ; from the carpus to the 

 end of the wing five inches : breadth, wings extended, fourteen inches. 



DESCRIPT. A transverse band of dirty white on the forehead ; crown 

 of the head black ; occiput crimson-red : cheeks and ear-coverts white, 

 bounded beneath by a black line, proceeding from the corner of the 

 mouth towards the nape, from whence arises another line of the same 

 colour that passes down the side of the neck and terminates on the 

 breast : a white spot on each side of the back part of the neck : back and 

 lesser wing-coverts velvet-black; scapulars, and some of the greater 

 coverts nearest the body, pure white : quills black, with a series of white 

 spots on each web : throat, fore part of the neck, breast and belly, dirty 

 white ; abdomen and under tail-coverts rich crimson : tail black ; the 

 three lateral feathers on each side spotted and tipped with dirty white : 

 irides red : bill and feet dusky lead-colour. In the female, there is no 

 red on the occiput. In young birds, until the first moult, the crown 

 of the head is red, and the patch on the occiput black ; the black on the 

 upper parts is also tinged with brown. (Egg.) Smooth ; shining white : 

 long. diam. one inch ; trans, diam. nine lines. 



Not so abundant as the last species, but hardly to be esteemed rare. 

 Haunts, food, and habits, very similar. Makes a loud jarring noise in the 

 Spring, (probably a call-note to the other sex) by striking its bill very 

 rapidly and many times in succession against the branch of a tree. 

 Makes no nest, but deposits its eggs, which are four or five in number, 

 in the holes of decayed trees. Obs. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker of 

 Montagu and other English authors is only the young of this species : 

 the Picus medius of Temminck is distinct ; but not hitherto found in this 

 country. 



