PICUS MINOR, Linn. 
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 
Piciis minor, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 176. 
varius minor, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 41. 
striolatus, Macgill. Hist, of Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 86. 
discolor minor, Frisch, Vog., pi. 37. 
Dendrocopxis minor, Koch, Baier. Zool. 
Picus pipra, Pall. Zoog. Ross. Asiat., tom. i. p. 414. 
Ledouci, Malh. Faun. Orn. Algerie, p. 22. 
Pipripiciis minor, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Zyg. 1854. 
Piculus pusillus, P. hortorum, P. herharum, P. crassirostris, Brehm, der Vollft. Vogelf., p. 70, 1856. 
The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is stated by some writers to be one of our rarest birds 5 but in this opinion 
I cannot coincide, for I am sure that if looked for it may be found in every English county from Cornwall 
to Yorkshire. North of this I admit it becomes more scarce, and beyond the Scottish border it is not to 
be met with ; neither does it occur in Ireland. Morris, in bis ‘ British Birds,’ states that one was shot near 
Stromness, in Orkney, by Mr. Low in 1774, and another was observed at Sunday on the 14th of October 
1823 ; but these were in all probability stray birds from northern Europe. This Woodpecker is so 
common in all suitable situations within an area of fifty miles round London, that it is quite unnecessary to 
name any particular places in which it may be found. In my ‘Birds of Europe,’ published in 1837, I 
stated that Kensington Gardens was one of its favourite resorts ; but the vast increase in our great city, and 
the consequent superabundance of smoke, having rendered the fine old trees in those gardens no longer tenable 
by insects, the bird has deserted that locality. In Richmond and Windsor Parks, the woods of Taplow and 
Cliveden, and the fine elms of the playing-fields at Eton it is tolerably numerous. 
The actions of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are restless in the extreme, for the bird is constantly 
flitting from branch to branch, and from tree to tree. Like the Long-tailed Tit, it appears to have a daily 
round, at one time traversing the great woods, at others the line of elms growing in the hedgerow. It 
seldom descends to the large boles, but flits from top to top with an onward movement, in the course of 
which a considerable distance is traversed between morning and night. This bird especially attracted my 
attention in the days of my boyhood ; and from that period to the present time I have watched it with 
great interest, in order that I might become acquainted with its breeding-places and economy, respecting 
which so little has been recorded that I may be excused if I should be somewhat diffuse on the subject. To 
render credit where credit is due, I must first ^acknowledge my obligations to Mr. Briggs, gardener to 
M. de Vitre, Esq., of Formosa, near Cookham, in Berkshire, for the assistance he has rendered me in the 
acquisition of the knowledge I desired. During the last few years several pairs have bred in this beautiful 
spot, their holes being always made in the upright stems of the broken branches of the loftiest poplars, at 
such a height as to be all but inaccessible to anyone but a sailor or an Australian “ black fellow.” Aware of 
my anxiety to become acquainted with every detail connected with the history of this species for the purposes 
of the present work, Briggs, at considerable risk both to body and limb, has mounted several of these mast-like 
stems, sawn them off, and lowered them to the ground without the least injury to the eggs or the young birds. 
About the end of April 1861, a pair commenced excavating in one of the lofty poplars alluded to, at which 
they laboured assiduously for two or three weeks, bringing the chips, one by one, to the opening, and throwing 
them out in quick succession ; after the work appeared to be completed, a certain time was allowed to elapse 
for the deposition of the eggs, when the dead branch was sawn off a few inches below where the bottom of 
the excavation was supposed to be. A bole, perfectly round and an inch and a half in diameter, bad been 
made about six inches from the extremity of the branch (the upper part of which had been blown off by 
the wind), and was continued downward for about a foot, gradually Inereasing in diameter to the bottom, 
where it terminated in a round cavity about the size of a breakfast-cup. Unfortunately, sufficient time had 
not been allowed for the deposit of the full complement of eggs, three only having been laid, on a few 
chips of wood almost as fine as sawdust. 
In the year following, the same pair of birds drilled a circular hole through the flinty bark of the same 
branch, and excavated down the stem to a similar depth. On sawing off the branch, on the 10th of June, 
four young birds, nearly ready to fly, were found in the cavity. They were very active, frequently ascending 
to the entrance of the hole, and uttering a loud querulous cry. These young birds were sent to the 
Zoological Society, but did not survive many days. 
