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Algerian specimens, the latter of which were named P. ledouci by Malherbe, a name afterwards 

 cancelled, measure 3'25-33. Two examples from Germany have the wing 3-5 inches in length ; so that 

 it is evident that every gradation in size from the small to the larger races can be traced. 



This is the smallest European Woodpecker, and is pretty generally distributed over the Con- 

 tinent. It is found in England, but does not reach some of the northernmost counties, and in 

 Scotland is almost unknown ; nor has it ever been seen in Ireland. It does not occur on any of 

 the Atlantic Islands, excepting the Azores. To the eastward, it is replaced in Siberia by a 

 closely allied but, as we believe, distinct species, P. kamtschatkensis, to which the name of 

 Picus pipra of Pallas is perhaps referable ; and it is difficult to say where the range of the 

 last-named bird coalesces with that of P. minor. Mr. Gould has very kindly lent us a pair of 

 P. kamtschatkensis ; and they are easily distinguished from P. minor by their very much whiter 

 backs, which are not barred like the European species. 



In England it is not a rare bird in many of the southern counties. Mr. A. G. More, in his 

 paper on the distribution of birds in Great Britain during the nesting-season, says that " the 

 present species is more southern in its distribution than P. major, not reaching further north 

 than Yorkshire. Yarrell mentions its having been found in Lancashire ; but I have no authority 

 for its nesting in that county or in any part of Wales." Mr. Eodd writes : — " This small 

 Woodpecker is sparingly distributed over the woodlands of Cornwall, especially in the eastern 

 portions ;" and in Devonshire, as we are informed by Mr. J. Brooking Eowe, it is " rarely met 

 with in the south and south-west of the county. Mr. D'Urban says it is not uncommon in the 

 neighbourhood of Exeter, and it has occurred several times near Barnstaple. The last I know of 

 was killed in the neighbourhood of Totnes in 1861, and is now in my collection." Mr. Gatcombe 

 also writes to us in a letter: — "Picus minor is certainly scarce in Devon. Yet its note may 

 occasionally be heard during the spring in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, at which season I 

 have examined specimens, and have no doubt that a few pairs breed annually in our woods. 

 It must remain with us during the winter too; for in February last (1871) I saw two in the 

 flesh which were killed on the 11th and 14th of that month at Newnham Park, the seat of 

 Major Strode, a few miles from Plymouth. In March 1870 I received a letter from Seaton, on 

 the coast of Devonshire, stating that three Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers had been lately killed in 

 that neighbourhood ; and I have at times examined other specimens from different parts of the 

 county. In Somersetshire I should say that Picus minor is more plentiful than in Devon ; for on 

 April 28th, 1868, 1 had two males sent from Taunton by Mr. Bidgood, the curator of the Taunton 

 Museum, with a letter intimating that the species was not very uncommon in that locality. I 

 have also received specimens from Bridgewater and other places in that county. About a year 

 since I got a specimen from near Newbury, Berkshire." 



It is not rare in Berkshire and Somersetshire, being in the latter county much more 

 common than the Great Spotted Woodpecker, according to Mr. Cecil Smith, as it certainly is 

 in the former county. In Middlesex, writes Mr. Harting, it is " of more frequent occurrence 

 than the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, or even the Green Woodpecker. I have a pair in my 

 collection which were shot in Bishop's Wood, Hampstead ; and I have seen four other specimens 

 which were obtained there in 1861. I have observed this species in the neighbourhood of 

 Brockley Hill and Elstree; and specimens have been obtained at Harrow. It is not an 



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