PICINA. 275 
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
DENDROCOPUS MAJOR (Linnzus). 
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is often supposed to be rarer 
than it really is, in consequence of its retiring nature and its habit 
of confining itself to the higher branches of trees; but newhere in 
the British Islands can it be considered abundant. It is, however, 
fairly distributed throughout the wooded portions of Engtthd, and 
though naturally rare in the treeless parts of Cornwall, and scarce in 
Wales (where it is increasing in Brecon), it is not infrequent in 
many of the southern and midland counties. North of Durham it 
becomes rare as a breeding species; and in Scotland, where it 
formerly nested up to the Moray basin, it has only recently been 
found breeding in the south-east. Unlike our other?Woodpeckers, 
this species is an irregular migrant from the Continent, and occurs 
in autumn from the Shetlands and Orkneys southward, especially 
along the east coast: sometimes in considerable numbers. In 
Treland it is not known to breed, but examples have been obtained 
at long intervals ; several having been taken in the autumn of 1886, 
one in February 1887, many in 1889, and one in 1890. 
This Woodpecker has wandered to the Fxroes, and is the only 
