368 BRITISH BIRDS. 



under tail-coverts ; and young in first plumage are barred throughout on 

 both the upper and underparts, the black on the lores, ear-coverts, and the 

 space round the eye is absent, and the black on the cheeks is spotted with 

 pale brown in the female and with scarlet in the male. 



Varieties of the Green Woodpecker occasionally occur in which the green 

 colour of the plumage almost approaches orange. 



The Black Woodpecker (Picus martins) has been included in the list of 

 British birds by most ornithologists,, and long lists of its alleged occur- 

 rences in our islands have been published. These have been carefully 

 investigated by Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. (Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 12), with 

 the result that no authentic instance of the occurrence of the Black Wood- 

 pecker in this country can be found. There is no bird less addicted to 

 migration than this species, and it is a bird of too powerful flight to be 

 driven from its native pine-forests by even the heaviest gales. It is 

 one of the few European birds that have never occurred on the island of 

 Heligoland. The Black Woodpecker may possibly have inhabited the 

 pine-forests of North Britain in the pre-historic ages, when the Capercaillie 

 occasionally fell a victim to the lynx on the banks of the Tees ; but, in the 

 absence of any evidence of its occurrence in our islands, this bird cannot 

 be admitted into the British list. This fine species is a resident in the 

 pine-forests of Central Europe as far south as the Pyrenees and the 

 mountains of Asia Minor. In Europe it is found as far north as the Arctic 

 circle; and eastwards it extends across Siberia to the north island of 

 Japan. It is not found on the main island of Japan, but is a resident 

 in East Mongolia and the extreme north of China. In West Siberia 

 it is found as far south as the Altai Mountains, but does not appear 

 to range further north in Asia than lat. 62. In its habits and mode 

 of nidification it differs very little from the other Woodpeckers. The 

 egg is figured on Plate 18. The Black Woodpecker is considerably 

 larger than the Green Woodpecker, and is almost uniform black, with a 

 broad scarlet stripe extending over the forehead and the crown to the 

 nape, but in the female not extending onto the forehead. 



The evidence in favour of the admission of the Middle Spotted Wood- 

 pecker (P. medius) into the British list appears to rest upon no better 

 authority ; most of the alleged occurrences resolve themselves into cases 

 of mistaken identity. The distinguishing feature of this species is the 

 scarlet crown ; this character being also found in birds of the year of the 

 Great Spotted Woodpecker is sufficient to account for the mistake made 

 by ornithologists who were not acquainted with the continental species. 

 The Middle Spotted Woodpecker is found throughout Continental Europe 

 south of the Baltic, extending eastwards through Asia Minor into West 

 Persia, though some ornithologists have attempted to prove that the birds 

 from the latter locality are specifically distinct. The Middle Spotted 



