12 



hear any more chirping ; so I was obliged to come to the conclusion that the poor little birds had 

 been left to starve to death." 



With reference to the occurrence of the present species near London, Yarrell remarks : — 

 " I have referred to Kensington Gardens as a locality in the vicinity of London rather 

 remarkable for the number of its insectivorous birds. The "Woodpeckers are frequently to be 

 seen and heard there; and I remember, some years ago, seeing a family of the young of the 

 species now under consideration, which had been taken and reared by the keeper at the Bays- 

 water Gate, which were climbing over the inside of their cage as it hung against a large 

 tree near the lodge." Mr. Edward Bartlett has likewise shot it in the Zoological Gardens ; and 

 it is by no means uncommon near Hampstead. The following observations have reference 

 to its migration to England. Mr. Selby writes, "In Northumberland, scarcely a year passes 

 without some of these birds being obtained in the months of October and November. This 

 induces me to suppose that they are migratory in some of the more northern parts of Europe, 

 perhaps in Norway and Sweden. They arrive about the same time as the Woodcock and other 

 equatorial migrants, and generally after stormy weather from the north or north-east." Mr. 

 Stevenson continues, in the 'Birds of Norfolk': — "There is no doubt that the same remarks 

 apply to Norfolk, since I find, on referring to my notes for the last few years, that more than 

 half the specimens which have come under my notice have been killed in the months of October 

 and November, and for the most part in the vicinity of the coast*. The strongest evidence, 

 however, of the migratory nature of this Woodpecker occurred in the severe winter of 1861, 

 when, between the 5 th of November and the following February, between twenty and thirty 

 specimens (old and young) were killed in different parts of the county, and some fourteen or 

 fifteen of them in the neighbourhood of Lynn." About the same time an equally unusual number 

 appeared in Cambridgeshire, as recorded in the 'Zoologist' (p. 7847) by Mr. S. P. Saville; and 

 Mr. Henry L. Saxby, in the same journal (p. 7932), gives a most interesting account of their visit 

 to the Shetland Isles during September and October of the same year, a still more remarkable 

 direction for any migratory movement. The wind, says Mr. Saxby, was steadily blowing from 

 the south-east at the time ; and he was also informed that several were killed at Orkney. 

 Mr. Saxby's account of the influx of this species into Shetland is as follows : — " Strange to say, 

 not one female was to be found among them, and, with one single exception, all were first year's 

 birds. The first two presented nothing unusual in their appearance ; but on taking the third one 

 into my hand, I at once remarked the worn look of the bill, tail, and claws. I immediately 

 suspected that this was caused by the scarcity of trees having driven the bird to seek its food 

 among stones and rocks ; and upon opening the stomach my suspicions were confirmed by the 

 discovery, among other insects, of several small beetles which are found only upon the hills. I 

 may mention that these beetles are very abundant in Shetland, although I do not remember 

 having seen any of the kind in England ; they are about the size and shape of one half of a split 

 pea, black, edged with scarlet. I afterwards saw Spotted Woodpeckers in various parts of the 

 hills and walls, and even in high sea-cliffs ; I also saw them on roofs of houses and upon dung- 

 hills; and although several were killed upon corn-stacks, I never found any grain in the stomach. 



* The Rev. E. "W. Dowell had a bird of this species brought to him in the month of November 1848, 

 which had been taken in a poacher's net at Salthouse, close to the sea. 



