2 
LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
had reared their young in an adjoining tree, the two limbs being within a few feet of one another. When 
examined side by side, it was easy to distinguish the difference in the size of the holes cut by the two 
species, the cnti*ance to the nursery of Ficus minor being about half an inch smaller in diameter than that 
required by his larger relative. 
The note of the male is a low whistle, repeated two or three times in succession. 
I was assured by a gardener in the interior of Sussex that this species was destructive to peas. He 
showed me two or three he had shot while protecting these vegetables from the attacks of Hawfinches and 
Sparrows. There was not the slightest doubt as to the identity of the birds, and I fully believe they were 
killed where the man described (I have repeatedly seen a pair or two frequenting the garden) ; but that the 
peas were the object of their visit I can scarcely credit. 
