108 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



habits and change of plumage of our Woodpeckers, 

 his opinion, if not to be received as conclusive, is, 

 at all events, worthy of consideration. He believes 

 that there exists a third British species of Spotted 

 Woodpecker, Picus medius of Temminck, interme- 

 diate in size between P. major and P. minor, often 

 confounded with the former, and of more rare occur- 

 rence than either. In June, 1846, he shot a pair of 

 birds at Caen Wood, Hampstead, which he believes 

 to be the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, P. medius. 

 It is somewhat smaller than P. major, and con- 

 siderably larger than P. minor. The red on the 

 head extends to the top of the crown, which is not 

 the case with P. major. There is rather more white, 

 also, on the scapulars, and the red of the under tail- 

 coverts is not so brilliant. On obtaining this pair 

 of birds Mr. Spencer skinned them, and sent the 

 bodies to Mr. John Askew, who took them to Mr. 

 Yarrell, and he decided that they were the bodies of 

 old birds. This would seem a sufficient answer to 

 the argument that they were the young of P. major. 

 When Mr. Spencer, however, produced the skins, 

 Mr. Yarrell suggested that the young of P. major 

 did not attain the adult plumage until after the 

 second or third year, and that, consequently, the 

 birds in question might be old birds, and yet the 

 young of P. major. It has been ascertained, how- 

 ever, beyond doubt, that the young of this species 

 assume the adult plumage at the first moult, and 



