PIC us MAJOR. 



GREA TER -SPO TTE D WOOD -PECKER. 



Generic Character. Picus martins. 



Synonyms. 



Picus MAJOR. Lin, Syft. up. 176. 17. Ind. Cm. 1, 

 p. 228. 13. 



Greater-Spotted Wood-Pecker. Br. ZooL 1. 



Ih.foLp, 79. tab, E. Ar5f. Zool. 2. 

 162. Lath, Syn. 2. p. 564. 12. Ih 

 Jupt, p, 107. Mont. Orn, Bicl, Vol, 

 2. Berwick's Br. Birds, Pt.x.p, 142. 

 Albin's Birds, 1. tab. ig. 



TThIS fpecies weighs nearly three ounces ; length nine, 

 breadth fifteen inches. Bill very ftrong, one inch and a quarter 

 long ; irides reddifh ; legs and claws ftrong. Colours of the 

 fexes alike except on the head, the upper part of which in 

 the female is black. 



The prefent is not fo plentiful as the green wood-pecker, 

 though more abundant than either of the other fpecies • it 

 chiefly reforts to fuch thickets as abound in the fofter kinds of 

 wood, which it eafily penetrates ; in making choice of a fitua- 

 tion to depofit its eggs, it generally felefts a tree that is unfound 

 at heart, which it readily difcovers by the found, this it per- 

 forates 



