THE WOODPECKER. 343 



like those noticed by Mr. Selby as frequently occurring in the 

 months of October and November, in Northumberland : — at which 

 period also, the few individuals known by Sir Win. Jardine to 

 have been obtained in the counties of Dumfries and Roxburgh, 

 were met with. Mr. Selby has seen this species on the banks of 

 the Dee and Spey, but it seems to be known in Scotland, as in 

 Ireland, merely as an accidental visitant. In some parts of 

 England it is resident, especially in "the southern and midland 

 counties" (Yarrell). I have met with the Picus major in its 

 native haunts, only in the richly wooded and picturesque valley of 

 Sarnen, Switzerland. 



Smith, in his History of Cork, remarks under " Hoopoe," — 

 " Mr. Willoughby ranks it among the woodpeckers, of which I 

 have not yet seen one in tins county." In the same author's 

 History of Waterford, there appears " Picus Martis, the wood- 

 pecker, a bird rare in tins county : " can P. martins be meant ? 

 Butty enumerates the " Picus varius minor, lesser spotted wood- 

 pecker," as one of the birds of the county of Dublin ; and it like- 

 wise appears in Dr. Patrick Browne's Catalogue of the Birds of 

 Ireland, probably copied from Rutty. All these notices of wood- 

 peckers are very unsatisfactory. Picus major is the only species 

 that can be positively announced as Irish. 



The Great Black Woodpecker {Picus martins) is reported as a 

 very rare visitant to England. It was noticed by Sibbald among the 

 Birds of Scotland, but nothing else is known of the species in that 

 country. 



The Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis), which is common to the 

 wooded districts of England, is not found in Scotland (Jard. : Macgil.). 

 I have been told that it frequents an old wood in the county of Donegal, 

 but no proof was ever afforded. When in Dublin on the 1st of Eeb., 

 1835, I saw in the possession of a bird-preserver, a fresh example of 

 this species, which was accordingly believed to have been shot in Ire- 

 land ; but on inquiry from the owner, I learned that it had been sent to 

 him from England ; its stomach was entirely filled with ants. Other 

 recent specimens have been received by bird-preservers in Dublin, but 

 no satisfactory statement respecting the place where they were killed, 

 could be procured. 



