144 TRUNK-CLIMBING BIRDS. 



BARRED WOODPECKER (LESSER SPOTTED 

 WOODPECKER).— Form, like Spotted Woodpecker 

 (plate 65). Length, 6 inches. General colour above 

 black, but patched, spotted, and barred with white all 

 over, except nape, rump, and central tail-feathers, 

 which are plain black ; forehead whitish ; crown 

 crimson ; face white, with black moustache ; sides of 

 neck and under parts white, with -black bars on the 

 sides of the bpdy, and black spots below insertion 

 of tail ; bill long, stout, straight. Female lacks the 

 crimson crown. Resident. 



Eggs.— 6-7, white ; -75 x -57 inch (plate 127). 



Nest. — A hole bored in the trunk or in a leading 

 branch of a tree, the eggs being deposited upon a 

 bed of chips in the cavity within. 



Distribution.— Chiefly in the south of England and 

 the Midlands ; rare farther north and in Wales ; 

 practically unknown in Scotland and Ireland. 



Lik^ the Spotted Woodpecker, this bird (which is 

 barred rather than spotted) is an inhabitant princi- 

 pally of the southern counties of England, but occurs 

 as far north as Yorkshire. In other parts he is almost 

 unknown. A creeper on trunks and along — generally 

 the under sides of — branches, the bark of which he 

 detaches by hammering it with his bill in order to 

 extract hidden insect-life, he has all the ways of the 

 orthodox Woodpecker. None of these perch cross- 

 wise upon branches, though they may at times be 

 seen standing along the upper sides of them. The 

 Barred Woodpecker is a bird of wood and park land, 

 though in the season he will wander into gardens 



