On the Greater Spotted Woodpecker.



265



glass covering. Cinnamon Teal are much tamer in confinement

than most of the small ducks, which is greatly in their favour. The

importation of some wild caught drakes would be a great advantage,

as I fancy that the stock of Cinnamon Teal in this country is

becoming “ in-bred,” all the birds on the market being bred either

here or on the Continent, and I have seen no advertisement of wild

caught birds. Moreover I believe that all the birds in this country

are the descendants of a few birds bred on the Continent.


I regret that I have only a nodding acquaintance with the

Cinnamon Teal in its wild state. I saw it on several occasions on

the Pacific Coast in Southern California in company with Buffle-

heads, Shoveler and Ruddy Ducks, and was able to note the great

speed it has on the wing. I was unable to see it during the nesting

season as I was in California during the winter only. On various

lakes in public parks where no shooting was allowed and where

sanctuaries were carefully maintained, it was most interesting to see

the various birds that fed tamely close at hand. Hundreds and

hundreds of Shovelers, which are identical with the European bird,

and small parties of a dozen or so of Cinnamon Teal, which, as Mr.

Wormald says, closely resemble the Shoveler in habits, hundreds of

White-winged Scoter (Oi. deglanclii) came in to wash in fresh water

and flighted out to feed towards the evening; parties of Pintail,

Mallard, Green and Blue-winged Teal paddled about, while overhead

floated Western Gulls ( L. vegae) and the dark-plumaged Heerman’s

Gull ( L. heermani), and the reeds were filled with Brewer’s Black¬

birds and Red-winged Starlings,—the whole making a picture of

which one’s eyes never tired.



THE


GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER.


(Denclrocopus major).


By Lilian Medland, F.Z.S.


I am sending you a photograph of the Greater Spotted Wood¬

pecker which I hand-reared from the nest. I obtained this bird in

the spring of 1907, and he has just died at the age of 6i years,

creating, I believe, a record of the longevity of this species in cap-



