12 



Range in Great Britain. Has only occurred once, when a 

 specimen was shot by the Rev. O. Pickard Cambridge, F.R.S., 

 near his home at Blox^orth in Dorsetshire, in December, 

 1836. Some doubt has been thrown on the authenticity of 

 the specimen in Mr. Cambridge's possession, and it has been 

 hinted that the specimen might have been changed by the 

 bird-stuffer who mounted it. I have written to the owner 

 about the bird in question, and he tells me that he has not the 

 slightest doubt that the specimen he still has in his house is 

 the identical one which he shot. Sixty years ago, a Downy 

 Woodpecker would have been worth much more money to a 

 dealer than a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and it would not 

 have been worth while for anyone to have changed the one 

 species for the other. D. pubescent has once been shot near 

 Elbeuf in France. 



Range outside the British Islands. A North American species, 

 occurring as far as Alaska in the north-west, and Florida in 

 the south. 



IV. THE LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. DENDROCOPUS 

 MINOR. 



Ptcus minor, Linn. S. N. i. p. 176 (1766) ; Dresser, B. Eur. 



v. p. 53, pi. 282 (1872) ; Seebohm, Br. B. ii. p. 359 (1884) ; 



Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. pt. x. (1889). 

 Picus striolatus, Macg. Br. B. iii. p. 86 (1840). 

 Dendrocopus minor, Newton, ed. Yarr. Br. B. ii. p. 477 (1882); 



B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 78 (1883); Saunders, Man. Br. 



B. p. 267 (1889) ; Hargitt, Cat. Br. Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 252 



(1890). 



Adult Male. General colour black and white ; scapulars 

 white, the lower ones white barred with black ; lower back barred 

 with black and white ; rump and upper tail-coverts black; quills 

 black, spotted on the outer web with white, and barred on the 

 inner web ; four central tail-feathers black, the others for the 

 most part white, barred with black, the outermost or "dwarf" 

 feather black with a white tip; crown of head crimson, the 

 feathers having dusky bases and concealed white spots ; sides 

 of hinder crown, occiput, nape, and hind-neck black ; fore- 

 head pale buff, brownish at base ; sides of face and sides of 



