BIRD-LIFE OF THE WOODS AND GROVES. 165 



summer, must not be taken to indicate a migratory 

 influx, being due to the fact that the bird is far 

 more readily observed amongst the leafless trees 

 at those seasons. The Lesser Spotted Wood- 

 pecker might be thought to be more abundant in 

 winter than in summer, but so far as is known 

 this bird is not migratory, and the apparent 

 increase in its numbers is due entirely to the 

 better facilities for observation. Brightly coloured 

 as these birds are, they are most difficult to see 

 when clinging to the many coloured limbs and 

 trunks of trees ; not only so, but they have the 

 habit of always trying to get the trunk or branch 

 between the observer and themselves. We fre- 

 quently see or hear the Lesser Spotted Wood- 

 pecker in this neighbourhood, and we know that 

 it breeds in many of the surrounding woods. 

 The commonest of the three species, however, 

 is the Green Woodpecker. In this neighbour- 

 hood in fact, in all the country surrounding Tor 

 Bay, it is decidedly a common bird, as Wood- 

 peckers go. Neither is it by any means confined 

 to the woods or even to the timber ; it is a 

 common bird amongst the cliffs, and we have 

 several interesting notes concerning its habits in 



