102 BRITISH BIRDS. 



themselves in tree-trunks at varying heights. Eggs : 

 5 to 7 ; shell glossy; creamy-white; size roo by 75. 

 Food : chiefly insects and small larvae, with berries or 

 nuts in winter. 



137. Dendroeopus minor (Linn.). LESSER 

 SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Hab. Northern Palsearctic region ; in Europe north to 

 North Cape. 



Instantly distinguished from D. major by its much 

 smaller size, the adult measuring barely 5-50. The 

 male has a good deal of white on the sides of neck 

 and the back ; the nape black and crown light crimson. 

 Female has crown buffish- white. 



A common resident in south of England, but very 

 rare in the northern counties, and seldom recorded from 

 Scotland ; six or seven examples have been obtained 

 in Ireland. Chiefly frequents woods, but I have found 

 the nest in small decayed stumps about the meadows 

 in Middlesex. Breeding hole is always excavated by 

 the birds ; in height its situation ranges from 2 to 30 

 feet. Eggs : 5 to 7 ; shell glossy ; creamy white ; size 

 75 by '55. Call-note : a veiy loud and shrill plee, plee, 

 plee, plee, plee, uttered as the bird clings to a tree. 



GENUS LXV. GECINUS, Boie (1831). 

 Bill moderately long, nearly straight, stout at base, 

 tapering towards tip, which is obtusely pointed, upper 

 mandible being very slightly longer than lower and a 

 little arched from near the base ; tongue cylindrical, 

 long, allowing of considerable projection, the tip barbed. 

 Tail pointed of 1 2 feathers, all but short outer pair having 

 shafts very stiff and with projecting tips. Toes two in front 

 and two behind ; claws large, much curved. 



