PICUS MAJOR, Linn, 
Great Spotted Woodpecker. 
Picm major, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 176. 
cissa, Pall. Zoog. Ross. Asiat, tom. i. p. 442. 
pipra, Macgill. Hist. Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 30. 
varius major, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 34. 
discolor, Frisch, Vog., pi. 36. 
Dryobates major, Boie, Isis, 1826. 
Dendrocopus major, Koch, Baier. Zool. 
Picus Baskhiriensis, Verr., 1854. 
brevirostris, P. alpestris et P. mesopilus, Reichenb. Handb. Spec. Orn., p. 365, pi. ncxxxiii. fig. 4212. 
pityopicus, P. montanus, P. pinetorum, P.frondium, P. leucorum et P. sordidus, Brehm. 
Who can take a fresh-killed specimen of this bird and open its wings without being struck by its varied 
markings of black and white, relieved by just sufficient red to render the contrast pleasing to the eye ? with 
what mathematical precision are all these markings placed ! in what graceful curves are the white spots 
arranged across the outspread wing ! and how truly have these markings been retained without any variation 
occurring between specimens killed at the present time and those which have been in our museums for more 
than fifty years. Were it not so, there would be an end to specific characters, and to Ornithology as a science. 
Tlie Picus major is universally dispersed over the British Islands, being found in England, Scotland, and 
Ireland. It is also very plentiful in Norway, Sweden, Russia, Central and Southern Europe. It may be 
regarded as one of the most typical of the Woodpeckers, and belongs to that section of the family for 
which the Linnsean name of Picus is alone retained. Its natural province is the larger trees, from the 
boles and branches of which its diet is obtained. I have said that the Great Spotted Woodpecker is 
very generally dispersed over the British Islands ; and it is so ; but it is more numerous in the central 
counties of England than elsewhere ; and if it be not seen in every extensive wood, or its loud ringing 
hammering be not resonant in every timbered estate, it is because the collector, the keeper, and the sports- 
man have not been able to refrain from levelling their guns whenever their attention has been attracted to this 
singular bird. I feel that I have never written a more truthful remark than this ; and were it not for that 
extensive nursery of European birds, the densely wooded and thinly peopled country of Norway, whence 
we constantly receive accessions, I very much doubt if the few remaining in this country would not soon 
disappear. 
At present the New Forest in Hampshire, the sunny and beautiful woods of Cliveden, Hedsor, and 
Taplow, wherever suitable trees occur, and the bird is free from molestation, are plaees where it may be 
found. In its habits there are few birds more shy and recluse. Unlike the Green Woodpecker, it seldom 
approaches the dwelling of man, but keeps to the topmost branches of the large trees ; oecasionally, 
however, it deviates from this kind of life and descends to the polhird oak, the willow, or the fence-rail, 
and in autumn resorts to gardens, for the sake of the wall-fruit. The young birds of the year are 
particularly mischievous in this way, and are often caught in the garden-net, or destroyed by the gardener’s 
gun. Most persons must be so well acquainted with the mode of progression of this and all other 
Woodpeckers, that a description is almost unnecessary ; but I may state that it traverses in a series of 
jumps both the larger stems and the smaller branches by means of its short tarsi, strong zygodactyle toes, 
and sharp curved claws, and is supported, when at rest, by the close application of the stiff tail-feathers to 
the trunk or branch. While thus rambling over their surface, it carefully scrutinizes every crevice for 
spiders, coleoptera, and the larvm of insects. The flight is performed in a series of dippings, produced by the 
sudden expansion and contraction of the wings. 
This bird makes no nest, but deposits its six pinky white eggs in an aspen, apple, oak, or other tree. 
When able to fly, the young differ from the parents in having their crowns red instead of black. 
It may not be out of place if I here mention that great accessions to the numbers of this bird take 
place in autumn. The numbers which arrived in 1861 were so great that they attracted the notice of 
many observers, as will be seen in various works. Of these records, the follomng, respecting the 
occurrence of the bird in Shetland, appears to be the most interesting : — “ I have already recorded,” says 
Mr. Henry L. Saxhy, “ the capture of two specimens of the Picus major, in the island of Unst, on the 3rd of 
September. During the next few weeks many more were killed, not only in Unst, but also throughout 
nearly the whole of the Shetland Isles ; the wind was blowing steadily from the south-east at the time. 
