57 



it ranges he cannot say. Dresser found it breeding as far north as Uleaborg. In Livonia it is 

 rare, according to Meyer. Our friend Mr. A. Benzon informs us that in Denmark it occurs very 

 rarely as a migrant. He says that, judging from the eggs in his collection, which from Norway, 

 Finland, and Pomerania are much larger than those from Styria, this bird appears to thrive well 

 in the north of Europe. We have before referred to the larger size of the northern birds, as 

 compared with specimens from the west and south of Europe. 



It is rare in Northern Germany, according to Borggreve, and is a partial migrant. Naumann 

 observes : — " In Germany and Switzerland it is not exactly rare, but is nowhere numerous ; and 

 the same is said of many parts of France. In Germany there are localities where it is always 

 found singly, others where it only passes occasionally ; but in Anhalt it is certainly not one of 

 our rarities." Dr. Bey informs us that it is very common in Moravia. According to Schlegel it 

 breeds in North Brabant and Gelderland, and has been seen near Groningen. De Selys-Long- 

 champs records it as rare and accidental in Belgium during migration, and it is found travelling 

 in pairs in spring and autumn. Several have been killed at Condroz and Ardenne. He found it 

 once at Hesbaye in May 1834. Godron says that in Lorraine it is rather rare in the woods and 

 orchards. In Alsace it is stated by Krcener to be sedentary on the plains and mountains, 

 inhabiting the pine-, fir-, and oak-forests, and visiting the orchards in winter ; and MM. Degland 

 and Gerbe record it as tolerably numerous throughout France. Bailly writes that "in Savoy it 

 is met with oftener than the Greater and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, though it is not common. 

 In summer and the early part of the autumn it frequents the old oaks in the fir-woods, and 

 ranges into the mountain-woods ; but in the winter, and especially about a month before spring, 

 it is most abundant in Savoy, and I suppose that they leave their more northern home on 

 account of the cold, and, passing from grove to grove in search of food, establish their quarters 

 in our woods on the plains and hill-sides." According to MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapom- 

 meraye " it is common in Provence, in all the wooded portions of the mountain districts, where 

 it breeds in considerable numbers. Of all our Woodpeckers it is the least sedentary, not that it 

 leaves us in winter, but it undertakes sundry peregrinations, and is indeed sometimes killed on 

 the sea-coast." 



Mr. Howard Saunders, in his essay on the Ornithology of Southern Spain, remarks : — " I 

 observed this bird once at Aranjuez, where it was evidently breeding, in May. It is in most 

 collections." Lord Lilford obtained a pair near the same place on the 26th of April 1865. It 

 is only inserted in Professor Barboza du Bocage's list of the birds of Portugal with a query ; so 

 that no authentic evidence of its occurrence in that country has yet been received. Major Irby 

 tells us that he has never met with the species in any part of Spain which he has visited, nor has 

 he observed it in Morocco. It was procured by Mr. J. H. Gurney during his journey in Algeria 

 at the wood of Oued el Alleg ; and Loche writes that it is found in the forests of the three 

 provinces of Algeria, but not numerously. Mr. F. Du Cane Godman records the Lesser Spotted 

 Woodpecker from the Azores, and observes : — " This bird is very uncommon, but is occasionally 

 met with in the mountains in St. Michael's, and, I believe, also in Terceira. I was unable to 

 procure a specimen, and did not meet with it myself. Mr. Brewer tells me that after I left for 

 England he saw one at the Furnas, and watched it for some time, and has no doubt as to the 

 species." 



5a2 



