DENDROCOPUS MEDIUS. 127 



down which runs the river Palm ones. They are common near 

 Ojen, also abundant about Pulverilla on the road between Casas 

 Viejas and Gibraltar. Further than this I never noticed them ; 

 nor did I ever see them where oak and alder trees were absent. 

 The local name is Pito real. They nest about the 1st of May in 

 holes of decaying trees, and do not appear to be in the slightest 

 degree migratory. 



Black and white ; scapulars white ; lack and rump black : under tail- 

 coverts scarlet ; iris red. 

 Male. Nape scarlet. 

 Female. No red on head and nape. 

 Young. Crown of head red. Length 9| inches. 



155. Dendrocopus numidicus, Malherbe. The Algerian Pied 

 Woodpecker. 



Moorish. Nakab. 



" Resident and common in the vicinity of Tangier, being found 

 only in large woods, w T here they nest in holes of trees, laying 

 from five to six eggs, similar to those of Picus major," Favier. 



1 did not find this bird " common " near Tangier ; and as for 

 the " large woods," there are none close to that town ; about 

 Tetuan this Woodpecker is plentiful, similar in habits to I), major. 

 Favier states that they migrate across the Straits. 



Mr. Hargitt, in his ' Catalogue of Woodpeckers in the British Museum/ 

 vol. xviii., gives the Pied Woodpecker of Morocco as a distinct species, 

 D. mauritamis, Brehm, resembling the Algerian D. numidicus, except that 

 the black stripes which border the throat and extend to sides of the chest 

 do not form a complete band tipped with scarlet on the chest, as in 

 D. numidicus ; further that the lateral tail-feathers are more broadly 

 marked with black, and the bill and legs less powerful. Andalucian 

 specimens of D. major often have traces of crimson and black crescent on 

 the chest ; and until a larger series of specimens are examined, I think 

 numidicus and mauritanus are only climatic races of D. major. 



[Dendrocopus medius. The Middle Spotted Woodpecker. 

 This Pied Woodpecker is stated by Arevalo to be resident in 



