GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 155 



for the same purpose. The noise may be distinctly heard 

 for half a mile. This bird will also keep its head in very 

 quick motion, while moving about the tree for food, jarring 

 the bark, and shaking it at the time it is seeking for in- 

 sects." 



These birds inhabit holes in trees, and the females ex- 

 hibit great attachment to their eggs ; Montagu mentions an 

 instance where " notwithstanding a chisel and mallet were 

 used to enlarge the hole, the female did not attempt to fly 

 out till the hand was introduced, when she quitted the tree 

 at another opening. The eggs were five in number, per- 

 fectly white and glossy, weighing about one dram, or rather 

 more. These were deposited two feet below the opening, 

 on the decayed wood, without the smallest appearance of a 

 nest." The eggs are one inch long, and nine lines broad. 



The young birds are perfectly fledged and able to shift 

 for themselves by the middle of July. 



I have referred to Kensington Gardens as a locality in 

 the vicinity of London rather remarkable for the number of 

 its insectivorous birds. The Woodpeckers are frequently 

 to be seen and heard there, and I remember, some years 

 ago, seeing a family of the young of the species now under 

 consideration, which had been taken and reared by the 

 keeper at the Bayswater gate ; they were climbing over 

 the inside of their cage as it hung against a large tree near 

 the lodge. 



This species occurs in all the southern and midland coun- 

 ties of England, but becomes more rare on proceeding 

 northwards: it is found in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. 

 Mr. Selby says, "In Northumberland, scarcely a year 

 passes without some of these birds being obtained in the 

 months of October and November. This induces me to 

 suppose that they are migratory in some of the more 

 northern parts of Europe, perhaps in Norway and Sweden. 



