WOODPECKER WEYNECK. 279 



winter. Was as common in Quickiock as the black wood- 

 pecker. The great pied woodpecker was rare there. I 

 never saw the white-rumped, the green, or the grey-headed 

 woodpeckers so far north as Lulea, but the commonest in all 

 the Lap forests is the three-toed woodpecker. 



Goes to nest the latest of all the woodpeckers. General 

 number of eggs five, which can scarcely be distinguished from 

 those of the wryneck ; but when authentic eggs of the two 

 are laid together, those of the wryneck are of a much more 

 chalky white, and altogether want that transparent gloss 

 which characterizes the eggs of all the true woodpeckers. 



But the oologist must be very careful how he admits the 

 egg of any of the woodpeckers into his cabinet without a 

 proper identification. 



41. P. TRIDACTYLUS, L. Tretaig Hack spett. The Three- 



toed Woodpecker. D. F. 



With three toes, two in front, onebehind. Lengthabout 

 9 in.; colour black and white, piebald; crown of the 

 head in the male golden yellow, in the female black and 

 white spotted ; iris brown ; legs lead coloured. 

 Is common during the breeding season from the north of 

 Wermland up to at least Tornea Lapland. In the winter 

 they wander further south. I have remarked that they are 

 most partial to such forests as have been destroyed by bush 

 fires ; very common in Finland. Appears only to have 

 been once observed in Denmark, and to have been ad- 

 mitted into the British fauna on extremely doubtful 

 authority. 



I never found more than four eggs in the nest, but I do 

 not say that this is the full number. In Lapland they do 

 not go to nest until June, the latest of all the wood- 

 peckers. 



Gen. Yunx, L. 



Feet and tongue as in the last, but the tail is long, and 

 square at the end, with soft feathers. 



42. YUNX TOEQUILLA, L. Gok tyta. The Wryneck. D. F. 



