90 
British Birds. 
THE GREAT 
SPOTTED 
WOODPECKER. 
( Dcndrocopus major.) 
and is vouched for by the latter gentleman ; but the probability is that it was one 
of the individuals let loose from the Lilford Aviaries a short time previously. The 
Great Black Woodpecker is one of the most unlikely birds in the world to migrate 
from its home in the pine forests of Scandinavia. It is an unmistakable species, 
being black all over, with the top of the head red in the male, black in the 
female, which has a patch of red on the occiput. 
The genus Dendrocopus contains the Pied Woodpeckers, oi 
which two species are resident in the British Islands, while two 
are accidental visitors. D. major is the largest of the four, and 
may be recognised by having the back and rump black, with 
the wings and tail chequered with black and white. The crown 
and nape are black in the male, with a scarlet patch on the occiput, while the adult 
female has the head entirely black, without the red occipital patch. The young 
birds of both sexes, however, have an entirely red crown. In England and Wales 
the present species occurs, but is always local, and in the north of England it 
becomes gradually rarer, and is not known to breed either in Scotland or Ireland. 
It is found throughout the greater part of Europe and Northern Asia, and sometimes 
migrates in considerable numbers, as I have myself witnessed in Heligoland. 
Like other Woodpeckers, D. major is decidedly a shy bird, and is more often heard 
than seen. It has a curious habit of drumming on a slender branch of a tree, the 
sexes apparently using this method of signalling instead of a call-note. The food 
of this species consists of insects which it obtains by hammering on the bark and 
forcing pieces off, but it also feeds on nuts, fruit and berries. The eggs are white, 
and from five to seven or eight in number, and are deposited on the chips at 
the bottom of a hole hewn out by the birds in a hollow tree. 
The British Museum possesses a specimen of the Hairy 
' 1 THF HAT RV 
ss” - " Woodpecker, obtained near Whitby in 1840, and presented by 
WOODPECKER. |'|f . , r . . 
, the late Mr. hrederic Bond. Another specimen ot this North 
(. Dendrocopus villosus.) , 
American species is said to have been procured in Yorkshire about 
a hundred years ago. Its home is in North America, where it is found from the 
Eastern States to the Rocky Mountains. It is distinguished from D. major by the 
white stripe down its back, but, like that species, it has a black crown with a scarlet 
band on the occiput, the latter being absent in the female, while the young 
birds have all the feathers of the crown tipped with orange-red. Its habits 
are similar to those of its allies. 
This is a small American species, which is found from 
Alaska to Florida, and has occurred in France and also once 
in Dorsetshire in 1836. It has a white stripe down the 
back like D. villosus, but is of the size of D. minor and 
has a black head with a red band on the occiput, this band 
being absent in the female. 
THE DOWNY 
WOODPECKER. 
(Dcndrocopus 
pubescens.) 
