NOTES AND QUERIES. 433 
“ Courlee’’), but was louder and more weird-like, and I think I 
may add, almost human in its shrillness. I admit that this cry 
is most difficult to describe, and, although the Rev. Clement 
Ley says that it would not have occurred to him to compare it 
to the startled cry of the Curlew, still he agrees with me in the 
main. That it was a Woodpecker, and a Black one, I have no 
doubt, and if it was not Picus martius, what bird was it? I 
omitted to state that it flew with a bold sweeping flight, and with 
its tail slightly forked. I heard its cry twice afterwards, but 
saw it no more. 
It must not be forgotten that the bird at Ruckhall Wood was 
seen in the month of June, that in Devonshire in the month of 
April, that at Belmont in the spring, that by myself at Dinas, 
Brecon, on the 25th of May, whilst no date is assigned to 
Capt. Mayne Reid’s specimens; and, although the Rev. Clement 
Ley says that the evidence against the supposition that Picus 
martius is migratory seems to him overwhelming, yet the circum- 
stances of the above occurring in the spring and early summer 
are certainly worth noting. Probably it is more silent in winter, 
but possibly it may be a stray summer visitant. I think, more- 
over, that it is almost impossible that the observers in the cases 
I have quoted could have been mistaken in every instance. It 
may be remarked with a great deal of truth that most of this 
has been said, and better said, before. I admit that there are 
links of evidence yet wanting, and probably most people will 
agree that the production of a freshly-killed British specimen in 
the flesh will alone settle this much-disputed question. 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 

MAMMALIA. 
Pigs used as Sheep-dogs in Italy.—A curious custom, which I first 
observed while travelling on the Apennines, and staying at Gavinana, near 
Pistoia, is worth recording for the benefit of your readers. The mountain 
peasants, though apparently poor, have under their care, either as their own 
property, or as that of rich landowners, large tracts of chestnut-woods. 
Some of them also own flocks of sheep. ‘lhe expense of keeping a good 
sheep-dog for these would, in most cases, be too much for them. Hence, 
ZOOLOGIST.—Nov. 1889. 2L 
