the tip, forming a large white patch, which is continuous with the white scapulars ; quills brownish 

 black, spotted on the outer web with white, forming on the secondaries four bars across the wing ; tail 

 black, the outer feather banded with white, the next irregularly spotted, and the third merely edged at 

 the tip with white ; throat white ; chest yellowish, bordered on each side with a distinct crescent-like 

 line of black, which nearly join in the centre; rest of the belly and abdomen beautiful rose-colour; 

 the sides of the body very distinctly striped with black ; under wing-coverts white, varied with black ; 

 bill bluish lead-colour, paler at the base ; legs lead-colour ; iris cinnabar-red. Total length 8 - 5 inches, 

 culmen 1/0, wing 4/8, tail 33, tarsus - 8. 



Female. Exactly similar to the male, but with the pectoral crescent-Hke band not so fully developed, and 

 the colours in general not quite so bright. 



Young. Exactly similar to the adults, but the colours not nearly so bright ; the back tinged with brown, 

 and the crown of the head not entirely vermilion, but rather blackish with a shght tinge of the latter 

 colour ; the whole plumage very woolly ; throat whitish ; breast light yellow, gradually shading into 

 pale vermilion on the abdomen and under tail-coverts. 



Obs. A young nesthng male resembled the old birds, but, except the wings, all the white in its plumage 

 was tinged with sulphur-yellow. The shaft- markings and the underparts were not clear, and the red 

 on the head and about the vent was paler. The old birds had the iris reddish, the young bird brown 

 {W. Meves, in epist.) 



The present species, which is one of the handsomest Woodpeckers in the world, is pretty 

 generally distributed over Europe, and does not seem to be migratory to any great extent. 



Mr. Harting has included it in his ' Birds of Middlesex,' on the authority of Mr. Spencer, 

 whose evidence on the point, however, fails to convince us ; and we do not consider that as yet 

 the Middle Spotted Woodpecker has any claim to be considered British. In Denmark, Kjaer- 

 bolling says it is a " resident and partial migrant in Denmark, rarer in northern Jutland than in 

 the southern provinces." A note on its occurrence in Denmark has been sent us by Mr. A. 

 Benzon, and will be found below. Nilsson states that it " occurs only in southern Sweden, never 

 in the north ; in Skane it is tolerably abundant." Mr. Meves writes us word that he saw it at 

 Stekag, where it was not rare. Collett observes in his ' Birds of Norway' : — " Nilsson states that 

 P. medius has been killed in Norway ; but the specimen in question, shot near Christiania, has 

 since proved to be a young bird of Picus major." In Finland or the Baltic Provinces it has not 

 yet been known to occur. 



Naumann says that " in Prussia it is occasional, in some parts of Germany very common, in 

 others less so ; but it is pretty generally distributed throughout the country. In Anhalt it is 

 nearly as numerous as the Great Spotted Woodpecker, in some of the green woods even com- 

 moner." He further states that it is found in England, which, however, is not the case. " In 

 Holland," Mr. H. M. Labouchere writes, " this bird has been observed a few times near the 

 German frontier." It is very rare in Belgium, according to Baron de Selys-Longchamps, where 

 it is only found in the large oak-forests of the Ardennes. De la Eontaine writes: — "Not 

 common in Luxembourg, although it nests regularly, and is found from the forests of Ardennes 

 to those on the Moselle and the Basse-Sure." Godron says it is common in the woods along the 

 chain of the Vosges, and rare in the rest of Lorraine. Degland and Gerbe observe that it is 



