BAEEED WOODPECKER 183 



Barred Woodpecker. 



(Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.) 



Dendrocopus minor. 



Forehead and lower parts dirty white ; crown bright red ; 

 nape, back, and wings black with white bars ; tail black, the outer 

 feathers tipped with white and barred with black; iris red. 

 Length, five and a half inches. 



When Yarrell wrote that the neglect of the name of barred 

 woodpecker, which had been used by some authors for the present 

 species, was to be regretted for brevity's sake, it was a pity that he 

 did not go so far as to reintroduce it in his great work. For doubt- 

 less many a writer on birds has groaned in spirit at the necessity 

 laid upon him to use two such cumbrous names as great, or greater, 

 spotted woodpecker, and lesser spotted woodpecker. Partly on this 

 account I lament YarrelTs timidity, and partly for a personal reason, 

 since my boldness in using the neglected name will be taken by some 

 readers as an exemplification of the familiar truth that fools rush in 

 where angels fear to tread. But no one will deny that the book- 

 names of these two woodpeckers are bad, and to some extent mis- 

 leading, since the birds are as unlike in markings as they are in size. 

 The first is as big as a fieldfare, and is spotted ; the second is scarcely 

 larger than a linnet, and is distinctly barred. 



The barred woodpecker is found in most English counties as far 

 north as York ; in Scotland and Ireland it is a rare straggler. It is 

 nowhere common, and appears to be even rarer than it is, owing to 

 its small size and its habit of frequenting tall trees. Its usual note 

 is a sharp chirp, resembling that of the blackbird when going to 

 roost; its love-call, as in the case of the spotted woodpecker, is 

 instrumental, and produced in the same manner. The sound varies 

 in tone and pitch according to the character of the tree performed 

 on, and has been compared to the sound made by an auger when 

 used in boring hard wood ; also to the creaking of a branch swayed 

 by the wind. 



The barred woodpecker in most cases makes a nesting-hole for 

 itself in the branch or trunk of a soft-wooded tree. Six or seven 

 smooth, creamy white eggs are laid. 



