The Zoologist — October, 1866. 443 



Ornithological Notes from the Isle of Wight. 

 By Captain Hadfield. 



(Continued from S. S. 345). 



July, 1866. 



Green Woodpecker, d'c. — I have it on good authority that a green 

 woodpecker was known to frequent one of our woods the whole 

 summer through, a fow years ago. My informant, an ornithologist of 

 some experience, and well acquainted with the species, tells me tl^at, 

 though he did not see the bird, he heard its note repeatedly. The 

 greater spotted woodpecker was heard at Bonchurch many years ago, 

 by an individual well known to me : he ran home for a gun, but in 

 the meantime the woodpecker had disappeared: from the description 

 it must have been Picus major. The tapping noise was heard by 

 another villager, though he did not see the bird. As to the great 

 black woodpecker, though it has been included in our list, I am 

 doubtful as to its claim to be so admitted. No one in Shanklin, that 

 I am aware of, ever heard of its being either seen or killed. The person 

 by whom it is said to have been shot, " in his garden," it appears, had 

 no idea at the time what bird it was, but from his description, in after 

 years, it was inferred that it could have been no other than the great 

 black woodpecker. 



Blackbird. — The pied bird, of which some account was given in the 

 ' Zoologist' (S. S. 169), died soon after, though apparently in perfect 

 health. However, judging from the great change in colour of the 

 plumage that took place at the first moult, there can be little reason 

 to doubt that after another moult the whole of the remaining white 

 tints would have disappeared. I little anticipated that my observations 

 on the plumage of both blackbird and swan would have been so 

 abruptly terminated. 



Martin. — 6th. A gale has blown down the cone-shaped nest. I 

 have already remarked on the inferior size and workmanship of these 

 late nests, and here is an additional proof of their instability. They 

 were observed to have young by the middle of the month, and there is 

 a brood of five in one of the nests. On the 27th I watched the old 

 birds feeding them, and think they are nearly full grown. 



Swift. — 17th. A large flock, numbering some hundreds, was 

 observed this morning flying to the eastward against a strong head- 



