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Longchamps writes as follows : — " Rare and accidental during migration in Belgium, travelling 

 in pairs in spring and autumn." Kramer, in his list of the Birds of Alsace and the Vosges, 

 states that it is sedentary on the mountains and low country, inhabiting the woods and visiting 

 the orchards in winter. According to Degland and Gerbe it is not rare in France, where it 

 breeds in many localities. In the southern portions of the latter country it is recorded by 

 MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye as " sedentary in Provence, although commoner at 

 the end of the summer. It inhabits the wooded regions of the Var, and the High and Low 

 Alps, and very rarely the plains near the sea." Bailly says, " The Great Spotted Woodpecker is 

 sedentary in Switzerland and Savoy, very common in the woods to the northward, and particu- 

 larly so in those of the Haute Savoie, Tarantaise, and Maurienne. Near Chambery it is less 

 known than the Green Woodpecker; for it is in reality rarer even in the winter, when the 

 Woodpeckers wander so much." Count Salvadori writes to us : — " It is very common in Italy, 

 and is found in all woods, both on the mountains and the plains, and about cultivated land on 

 which trees are scattered. It is numerous in Sardinia in the green oak woods, and the native 

 sportsmen attract it by hammering with a stone on the butt of their guns." With respect to its 

 occurrence in the last-named island we have received the accompanying note from our friend 

 Mr. A. B. Brooke, who has just returned from a natural-history tour in that locality : — " I found 

 this Woodpecker extremely common in the large ilex and cork forests through Sardinia ; but I 

 may mention that during three visits to that island at different times of the year I have never 

 met with any other species, although both Picus minor and Gecinus viridis are said to occur." 

 Mr. Howard Saunders says, " in Spain it is generally distributed throughout the wooded districts," 

 and he found it breeding near Aranjuez. Lord Lilford observed it very abundantly near San 

 Ildefonso ; and Major Irby informs us that " it is known near Gibraltar as the Pito real, the 

 Green Woodpecker not being found in the vicinity. It is resident and abundant in the cork 

 wood, nesting in May ; and some are always to be found on the decaying alder trees in the ' Soto 

 Gordo.' " It is common in Portugal. In the Canaries Dr. Bolle observed it, and says it was the 

 only Woodpecker found on the islands. Berthelot believes it to be resident on the Canaries. 

 It has also been said to be an inhabitant of the Azores ; but Mr. Godman, our best authority on 

 the avifauna of these islands, states : — " M. Morelet gives P. major in his list of the Birds of the 

 Azores ; but I am not aware that he ever obtained specimens, and I am inclined to think that 

 there is but one species resident." 



" In Sieily," writes Professor Doderlein, " this is the commonest of the family, and is some- 

 times killed in the immediate neighbourhood of Palermo, becoming much more abundant in the 

 wooded districts of the interior. Its vulgar name is Lingua longa di li turdi, because some 

 arrive in October when the Thrushes pass." Lindermayer says that in Greece it is " not only 

 found in the northern wooded country, but I have also observed it in the oak woods of Messina, 

 on the banks of the Alpheus, very little above the level of the sea ; and Von der Miihle also states 

 that he has found it in Arcadia. Whether it breeds in the districts above referred to is 

 unknown." Dr. Otto Finsch found it common in Bulgaria ; and Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, 

 writing on the Birds of Turkey, state that they observed it to be very " common in all the 

 wooded districts that we visited. Some specimens shot in Macedonia are of a pure white under- 

 neath, instead of the usual dingy colour." Strickland has stated it to be common near Smyrna ; 



