ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Ob. Mr. Hargitt considers that specimens from the Ussui 

 River in Eastern Siberia, and from the island of Yezo, cannc 

 be separated from D. minor, though he admits that individual 

 from the last-named locality are not typical. The sam< 

 authority states that from the Southern Urals, "across Siberij 

 north of about 55 N. lat. into Kamtchatka and Berinj 

 Island," the place of D. minor is taken by D. pipra, a specie 

 which differs from D. minor in being purer white below anc 

 in having scarcely any streaks or spots on the under tail- 

 coverts, while the black bars on the lower back and rumi 

 are scarcely discernible. In the Caucasus another specie 

 D. quadrifasciatus, replaces D. minor. Little is known of this 

 species, which is said to show only four, instead of five, white 

 bars on the wing, when the latter is closed. A very distinct 

 form, D. danfordi, is found in Asia Minor, easily recog- 

 nised by the black line of the moustache being directe 

 upwards behind the ear-coverts and joining the black of the 

 occiput. 



Habits. This species is more often to be observed, at 

 in the south of England, than any of the three English Wood- 

 peckers, and it differs a good deal in its habits from the Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker. In flight, as in size, it much more re- 

 sembles the Nuthatch, and its note is a sort of compromise 

 between that of the latter species and that of a Wryneck. 

 In fact its cry, when heard in winter, is somewhat startling 

 from its similarity to the Wryneck's call, until one remembers 

 that the last-named bird is far away in the south, and that 

 the oft-repeated note can only be that of the Lesser Spottee 

 Woodpecker. It certainly descends more often to the lowe 

 branches of the big trees than does D. major, and is not 

 unfrequently seen hanging under a bough or climbing up th< 

 smaller twigs of a large elrn or poplar. Its nest has also beei 

 found at low elevations, but as far as my own experience goe 

 the nest is a difficult one to obtain, and near Cookham ii 

 Berkshire, where the bird is by no means uncommon, the ne 

 is exceptionally difficult to reach, as it is usually placed in 

 high and rotten branch of a poplar tree. At times it descene 

 to the orchards, and the late Mr. John Henry Gurney told me 

 of a pair which frequented the orchard in a house where he 



