LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 155 



it to escape observation, so that it is generally considered 

 to be much more rare. It is heard to make the same sort 

 of jarring noise as the other Woodpeckers, but not so loud ; 

 it is said to be most partial to woods of beech and oak, 

 and also to frequent the tops of large elms. It chooses 

 small holes in trees, as an obvious security against the in- 

 trusion of birds larger than itself, and Colonel Montagu 

 mentions having in one instance found five eggs, deposited 

 on the rotten wood, without any nest, at a considerable 

 distance below the aperture, which corresponded with the 

 size of the bird, but did not appear to have been recently 

 made. The eggs are smooth, of a delicate spotless flesh- 

 coloured tint, before they are blown, the colour of the 

 yelk appearing through the transparent albumen and 

 thin shell ; but when blown, the egg-shells are thin, of a 

 pure and shining white, nine lines and a half in length, 

 by seven lines in breadth, and very similar to the eggs of 

 the Wryneck. 



The food of this species is small insects, which they oc- 

 casionally seek among long grass on the ground, but are 

 generally seen examining the bark of trees, searching the 

 branches rather than the trunks, from the crevices in which 

 they withdraw such as they find within the reach of their 

 long tongue, and the glutinous secretion with which it is 

 covered. Mr. Gould, in his birds of Europe says, this 

 little Woodpecker is frequently to be seen searching for 

 insects on the moss-covered branches of orchard fruit trees. 



This species is not uncommon around London, and may 

 be seen in Kensington Gardens, and I find notices of its 

 occurrence in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dor- 

 setshire, and Cornwall ; it has also been noticed in Glou- 

 cestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, and 

 as far north, on the west side, as Lancashire. I am not 



