PICUS MAJO R, Linn
Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Picus 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., pl. 36.

Dryobates major, Boie, Isis, 1826.

Dendrocopus major, Koch, Baier. Zool.

Picus Baskhiriensis, Verr., 1854.

brevirostris, P. alpestri. | i

eo pe ee . Be ee eae Handb. Spec. Orne, ps 360; pl. pcxxxiu. fig. 4212.
Ie dium, P. leucorum et P. sordidus, Brehm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ee a MO en i ae fais oe its me without being ee by its varied
what mathematical precision are all these ee o : a Ce eae aa aaa
7 ; gs placed! in what graceful curves are the white spots
arranged across the autspread wing! and how truly have these markings been retained without any variation
occurring between pigouen killed at the present time and those which have been in our museums for more
phan fifty pests: Bier it not so, there would be an end to specific characters, and to Ornithology as a science.
The Picus aoe 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 Linnean name of Picus is alone retained. Its natural province is the larger trees, from the
poles 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
I feel that I have never written a more trutbful remark than this; and were it not for that
ean birds, the densely wooded and thinly peopled country of Norway, whence
I very much doubt if the few remaining in this country would not soon

singular bird.
extensive nursery of Europ
we constantly receive accessions,

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 places where it may be
found. In its habits there are few birds more shy and recluse. Unlike the Green Wookpecker, it seldom
approaches the dwelling of man, but keeps to the topmost branches of the large trees; occasionally,

however, it deviates from this kind of life and descends to the pollard oak, the willow, or the fence-rail,
the sake of the wall-fruit. The young birds of the year are
in the garden-net, or destroyed by the gardener’s

gun. Most persons must be so well 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
The flight is performed in a series of dippings, produced by the

and in autumn resorts to gardens, for
s in this way, and are often caught

particularly mischievou
acquainted with

spiders, coleoptera, and the larva of insects.

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 186] were so great that they attracted the notice of
in various works. Of these records, the following, respecting the

to be the most interesting :—* I have already recorded,” says
ens of the Picus major; in the island of Unst, on the 3rd of
e were killed, not only in Unst, but also throughout
from the south-east at the time.

many observers, as will be seen
occurrence of the bird in Shetland, appears
Mr. Henry L. Saxby, “ the capture of two specim
September. During the next few weeks many mor

= "aS ing steadil
nearly the whole of the Shetland Isles ; the wind was blowing y