240 
PICID/E. 
INSESSORES. 
SCANSORES. 
P1CIDJE 
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 
PlCUS MAJOR. 
PLATE LXI. FIG. III. 
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is either a rare or 
local bird, or one which most effectually evades the sight; 
for much as I have been out in the fields, and always on 
the watch for such things, it has very rarely been my 
lot to see it alive, and I have eagerly looked for it in 
places where the green woodpecker and wryneck were 
very abundant. 
Never having myself seen a nest of this species, I have 
recourse to the information of Mr. H. Doubleday, of 
Epping, who is ever on the look-out for anything curious 
in natural history, and ever ready liberally to impart 
to others the information thus gained. He notices the 
rarity of the bird even there : “ The Great Spotted Wood¬ 
pecker is a rare bird here, and I have seen only three of 
their nests; these were all in the horizontal branches or 
arms of oaks, where a smaller branch had been broken 
off, and the part had decayed ; the place was carefully 
plastered up, so as only to leave a hole just large enough 
for the bird to enter; in one instance, where the arm was 
hollow, the nest was nearly three feet from the opening. 
The eggs, five in number, were laid upon the bare wood, 
which was decayed and soft.” 
