BIRDS 165 



planted. The breeding season is often extended into Septem- 

 ber, even in the north of England, but I have not seen unfledged 

 young later than September, nor have I seen a full clutch of 

 eggs earlier than the 26th of May. It breeds throughout our 

 area, from the mosses which fringe the Solway Firth to the 

 Westmorland moors that march with Yorkshire. 



Order PICARIJE. Fam. PIGIDjE. 



GKEAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Dendrocopus major (L.). 



In the southern portions of Lakeland this Woodpecker is 

 known only as a rare winter visitant from the Continent. Dr. 

 Gough records in his notes a young bird killed near Gilpin 

 Bridge, October 31, 1871. Mr. Hutchinson received a specimen 

 shot on Cartmel Fell on November 29th, 1889. Mr. Duckworth 

 examined another killed near Ulverston about the same time. 

 In Cumberland the species occurs as rarely as a winter immi- 

 grant as in Westmorland ; but a few pairs reside in one or 

 two localities. Dr. Heysham only met with four local speci- 

 mens prior to 1796. His son informed Yarrell in a draft of 

 January 10, 1836 : 'A few days ago a very fine specimen of 

 the Picus major (a female) was shot in the neighbourhood, a bird 

 seldom met with in the district.' The species is most firmly 

 established at Edenhall (where some fine specimens of the boring 

 of this Dendrocopus can be inspected in situ), but it has bred of 

 late years near Brampton, Woodside, Corby Castle, and Warwick 

 Bridge. Keepers are chiefly to blame for its rarity. A pair 

 were shot at Corby in 1888, while on the 1st of June in the 

 following year, I examined another bird from the same property, 

 a fine 'old male. That it had taken its share of the duties of 

 incubation was shown by the bare condition of the breast. The 

 whereabouts of this Woodpecker is easily ascertained at the 

 beginning of the breeding season. For instance, on the 25th of 

 April 1889 I visited Woodside, and soon heard the sharp jarring 

 sound of quickly repeated blows, followed by the appearance of 

 the performer; the first tree he alighted in happened to be a 



