GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER— LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
99 
SUB-OEDER PICI. 
Family P I C I D . 
Sub-family PIGIXjE. 
GKEAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. Dendrocopus major (Linnaeus). 
“French Magpie.” 
Resident, but not common. — ^Mr. Babington (Appendix ‘ Potter,’ p. 68), stated 
that it “ is found in old woods all round the Forest, but is not very common.” 
Harley remarked that, in his day, the species was seldom seen, except in the 
vicinity of the parks of Beaumanor, Bosworth, Donington, Grarendon, and Gropsall. 
Sir G. Beaumont wrote to !Mr. Macaulay that he had seen it at Coleorton. The 
Rev. A. Matthews got a female bird of this species at Gurnley in Xovember, 1864. 
C. Adcock wrote me : — The last we had was a female, shot in Rothley parish 
in the spring of 1881.” Mr. Davenport informs me that one was killed at 
Loddington in 1881, and that he saw a pair in May, 1881, in Loddington Redditch, 
and one in Xovember, 1883, in Xoseley Park. Mr. Ingram writes; — “Occurs in 
the Belvoir Woods, and breeds occasionally ; seen in orchards ; a shy bird.” The 
late Mr. Widdowson wrote : — “ Occurs most years about neighbourhood of Melton.” 
I bought a mounted specimen (female) in very poor condition, said to have been 
procured from Ansty in the autumn of 1883. The late Miss Sansome, of the 
“Xarborough Inn,” shewed me, in June, 1885, a fine male shot by her father, the 
late Mr. Wm. Sansome, in the vicinity of Xarborough some fifty or sixty years 
previously. Mr. T. B. Ellis writes : — “ Frequents the larger woods ; one or two 
pairs frequent Bardon Wood ” ; and, as a proof of this, a fine male specimen was 
shot by the keeper at Bardon Hill on loth May, 1885, and presented to the 
!Museum by Mr. B. X. Everard. I have an impression that this bird is not quite 
so rare as formerly, and, indeed, Pinchen tells me that he has received quite a 
number in late years from various parts of the county, one being from the vicinity 
of Coalville, in December, 1887, and another (a female) which he shewed me, 
shot at Bradgate during the first week of April, 1888, by Wesley, the head 
keeper. Pinchen remarks, however, that the specimens were, almost without 
exception, females. AH. A. Langton reports havdng seen a Great Spotted Wood- 
pecker at Arnesby, early in 1888. 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — The Earl of Gainsborough writes : — 
“ Observed at Bamsdale, Exton, and Xormanton.” Air. Horn reports that Cooper, 
bailiff to Sir Henry Fludyer, shot one in Wardley Wood in 1880. Alasters wi-ote 
me from Burley, 14th Dec., 1888 : — “ There are several about here now.” 
LESSER SPOTTED AVOODPECKER. Dendrocopus minor (Linnaeus). 
Resident, bnt sparingly distributed ; probably rarer than the preceding species. 
Alentioned by Air. Babington (Appendix ‘Potter,’ p. 68) as having occurred near 
