A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.
- George Montagu
- Date:
- 1866
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
417/440 page 389
![WOOD-PIE. SuppLEMEKT. ^— There is much proha- hility that the young of this species, like those of the Inst, possess red crowns iu their nesthng plumage, without regard to se.K. Woodpecker, Middle Spotted.—Picus me- dius, Lin. Syst. i. p. 17U, 18; Gmel. Syst. i. p. 4:10 ; Ind. Oni. i. p. 220, 14. Picus varius minor, Raii Sy7i. p. 44, 5. Picus varius major. Will. t. 21. Picus varius, Bris. iv. p. 38, 14, t. 2, f. 1; Ih. 8vo, ii. p. 52. Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Br. Zool. i. No. 86, t. 37 ; Arct. Zool. ii. p. 278, D.; Lewin, Br. Birds, t. 48 ; Lath. Syn. ii. p. 565, 13 ; Ib. Sup. p. 107 ; Wale. Syn. i. t. 40; Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 6. — This bird, ■which we consider as the young of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, but described by Linnseus and others as a distinct spe- cies, differs only from that bird in having the whole crown of the head red; the black marking about the head and neck not so large, and the white on the cheeks more dusky ; that on the breast inclining to brown ; the length and weight nearly the same. It should seem that the young males of the Greater SiJotted Woodpecker have at first the whole crown of the head red; but that in two or three months after they leave the nest the red feathers on the top of head are displaced by black ones. In this state of change we have now one before us, which was killed in November. The back of the head is crimson ; the crown black, spotted with crimson fea- thers ; and what strengthens this opinion is, that these birds are only to be met with from July to the latter end of November, as far as we have been able to collect; at least we have never been able to iirocure such at any other time. Dr. Latham seems to favour this opinion. Buflbn also appears to consider it as a variety only of the Greater Spotted species. The reason why this should appear scarcer is, that few Woodpeckers are killed when the trees are in full foliage, and by the time the leaves are fallen these have assumed their full plumage. [This name has been dis- missed by general consent from the Lritish list: but the question appears to require farther consideration. In Harting’s ‘Birds of Middlesex,’ a work now in the press, and one whicli will prove equally credit- able to the industry and ornithological acumen of the writer, the following jiassage occurs under this name :—“In June, 1846, !Mr. Spencer shot a pair of birds at Caen Wood, Hampstead, which he believes to be the Middle Sjjotted Woodpecker (I’icus medius). 'J'his species is somewhat smaller tlian major, and considerably larger than P. minor. The red on the head extends to the top of the crown, whicli is not the case ■with P. major. There is rather more white also on the scapulars, and the red of the under tail-coverts is not so brilliant. On obtaining this pair of birds Mr. Spencer skinned them, and sent the bodies to Mr. John Askew, who took them to Mr. Yarrell, and he decided they were the bodies of old birds. This would seem a sufficient answer to the argument that they were the young of P. major. When Mr. Spencer, however, produced the skins, Mr. Yarrell suggested that the young of P. major did not attain the adult plumage until after the second or third year, and that consequently the birds in question might be old birds, and yet the young of P. major. It has been ascertained, however, beyond doubt that the young of this species assume the adult plumage at the first moult, and that they are completely moulted by the end of Oc- tober. The birds in question were shot in June. The young of P. major, obtained iu July, were in deep moult.” — Birds of Middlesex, p. 108.] [Woodpecker, Threetoed.—Edwards’Birds, pi. 114. Picus tridactylus, Linn. S. N. i. 177; Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 401, iii. 283; Jenyns, Man. B. Vert. An. p. 151; Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 232 ; G.R. Gray, List of Brit. An. Part. iii. Birds, p. 121. — “ Male : Forehead varied with black and white; crown of the head golden yellow; occiput and cheeks glossy black; a black moustache, which is prolonged downwards to the breast; a straight white line behind the eye, and a broader one beneath it; front of the neck and the breast pure white; upper port of the back, sides of the breast, flanks, and bcdly streaked with black and white ; wings dull black, having only a few small white spots on the quills; the upper portion of the tarsus covered ■with feathers ; upper mandible brown ; lower mandible whitish ; irides blue; length nine inches. Female : Crown of the head shining white or silvery, varie- gated with slender nariw black streaks. Inhabits the vast forests and mountains of the North of Europe, Asia, and America; it is very common in Stvitzerland, but is not found at a greater elevation than 4000 feet above the level of tho sea. It is rare in France and Germany, and has not been observed in Holland. It lives on wood- boring insects, and nests in holes in the trunks of trees, and lays four or five eggs, which are white and glossy.”— Temminch, i. 401. Edwards mentions its occurrence in Scotland, but it certainly is not of fre- quent occurrence there, since no recent record of its appeuraiico has been noted.] [Wood-pie.—A name of the Great Spotted Woodjiecker.] 380](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28089935_0417.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
