GREEN WOODPECKER. 273 



Swinton Parks, and in Nidderdale, especially in the vicinity 

 of Harrogate. In other parts of the West Riding it is a scarce 

 bird, and almost unknown in the extreme west and north-west 

 divisions ; though a pair nested at Bolton Abbey in 1906, 

 In the remoter parts of the North Riding it has occurred 

 rarely in Upper Teesdale and near Sedbergh. Perhaps the 

 most singular feature in its distribution is its entire absence 

 from Bishop Wood, near Selby, the oldest and largest wood 

 in the county. 



It is not found on the chalk Wolds or clays in the east, 

 though it occurs on the west ridge of the Wolds, and is not 

 uncommon in the drier sandy, or moory situations, where it 

 also breeds ; it is more local in the East Riding than else- 

 where ; it is somewhat rare near Beverley, but breeds rather 

 commonly near Market Weighton, and not uncommonly at 

 Scampston. It occurs at Pocklington, and has been noted 

 once in November 1882, at Rimswell, in South Holderness, 

 while at Flamborough, where it has been met with on one or 

 two occasions, an example was picked up in an exhausted 

 state near the Lighthouse on iyth October 1894, and another 

 was found in the autumn of 1903, which would seem to indicate 

 that they were migrants. 



In regard to the nidification of this bird a singular circum- 

 stance was brought to my notice in the spring of 1902, in 

 Harrogate, where a pair of Woodpeckers commenced building 

 operations in a tree in the centre of the town, but, unfortunately, 

 they were not allowed to continue their labours undisturbed. 

 Another curious nesting incident took place in Cleveland 

 in 1902. On the I5th of May I went with a friend to examine 

 a Woodpecker's nest in an ash tree ; a hole was cut below 

 the entrance, but the site was apparently deserted ; however, 

 a fortnight later we found the old birds were utilising the 

 new aperture and were excavating the interior of the tree 

 as vigorously as before. In some parts of the Cleveland dales 

 I have known nesting trees close up to the edge of the moors, 

 bordering on the Ring Ouzel's territory. This species is also 

 frequently found out on the moors far from trees of any kind ; 

 it dislodges the moss on the boulders for grubs, and probably 

 VOL. i. T 



