362 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker makes no nest ; its eggs are laid on the 

 fine powdered chips and fragments of wood left at the bottom of the hole. 

 They vary from five to eight or nine in number, and are pure white with 

 a considerable amount of polish. They vary in length from '82 to '7 inch, 

 and in breadth from '62 to '55 inch. It is difficult to distinguish between 

 the eggs of the present species and those of the Wryneck, and they require 

 the most careful identification. On an average, however, the Wryneck's 

 eggs are larger, coarser in texture, and not so glossy. Both birds assist 

 in incubating the eggs, and, like most hole-builders, they are close 

 sitters, often allowing themselves to be lifted from their charge, or their 

 eggs laid bare, without making any attempt to leave them. The young are 

 fed and tended for some time after they have quitted the nest ; and during 

 the time they remain in the hole they often call or poke their heads out of 

 the aperture. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker often sits on her eggs as 

 soon as they are laid, and hence some of the young are more forward than 

 the rest. These often leave the hole and are fed on the neighbouring 

 branches ; and they probably all roost in it for some time after they are 

 fully fledged. 



The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is a miniature of the Great Spotted 

 species, and differs from it in comparatively few respects. The lower back 

 and rump are transversely barred with white, and the white on the inner- 

 most secondaries is developed into conspicuous transverse bars. The ear- 

 coverts are brownish white, and are not separated by a black line from the 

 white on the sides of the neck ; and the flanks, and frequently the breast, 

 are streaked with brown. The most important difference between the two 

 species is in the distribution of the scarlet, which is entirely absent from 

 the underparts, and on the head of the male is confined to the crown, as 

 in the young of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, and is replaced by white 

 in the female. Bill, legs, and feet dark slate-grey ; irides reddish brown. 

 The young scarcely differ from adults, except that in the female the crown 

 is slightly tinged with scarlet *. 



* The presence of scarlet on the crown of the young female, and its absence on that of 

 the adult, is another instance supporting the theory that this brilliant colour has been lost 

 by protective selection in the female rather than acquired by sexual selection in the male. 

 One can hardly credit the male with possessing such bad taste as to prefer his female 

 without " a feather in her cap." 



