350 
DENDROCOPUS. 
writes thus : “ No specimen, however, known to 
have been certainly killed in this country, exists 
in any of our museums, and there is strong reason 
to doubt the reality of its claims to a place iu the 
British fauna.” * The authority previous to this 
rests with the works of Drs Latham and Pulteny. 
We have no means of immediately clearing this 
doubt, or of tracing the specimens alluded to by 
the above mentioned gentlemen ; but, at all 
events, the bird will only rank as a straggler, 
and as one of the rarest in our list, and we intro- 
duce it, as we have done many others, to attract 
attention to the subject. On the Continent it is 
most common in the northern and central parts ; 
according to Temminck extending to Siberia, 
and sometimes appearing in Holland. It is not 
known beyond the European boundary. In the 
males, the plumage is entirely black, excepting 
the crown, which is crimson. In the female, the 
crimson is limited to a spot on the occiput; 
while in the young the crimson is partially mixed 
with black. 
The next form is 
Dendrocopus, Swains . — Generic characters. 
— Bill, with the culinen nearly straight, as 
broad at the base as high, and not com- 
pressed on the sides ; feet with the versatile 
toe longer than the anterior; wings rather 
lengthened and pointed, third quill longest. 
Types. — D. major, 85c. 
* British Vertebrata, p. 151. 
