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| Great spotted woodpecker - eggs laid in vain |
Nidification of Woodpecker
On the 8th of May last, knowing a woodpecker's nest, I enlarged the hole by cutting sufficiently to admit my arm, hoping to find eggs, but was disappointed.
Two days after, on passing the spot and seeing the bird fly out of its hole, I put my hand in and found to my surprise two eggs.
These I took, and, acting on the principle of " exchange is no robbery," substituted blackbird's eggs.
This exchange went on for the next three days.
On the 15th, however, I found the blackbird's eggs, together with one of their own (laid that morning), turned out and broken.
Nevertheless, next morning I took another egg from the nest, and not having one with me for substitution, I left the nest empty.
On the 21st I got four more, having taken in all eleven, not including the one broken.
G.W.P. Moor
Great Healings
Suffolk
November 13, 1868.
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Great Black Woodpecker in Leadenhall Market
I am indebted to Mr. Gatcombe who has been successful in obtaining some of our rarest birds in the London markets) for an unskinned specimen of the great black woodpecker, obtained by him in Leadenhall on the 6th of November.
Mr. Gatcombe supposes it was from Sweden as it came with some capercaillie, but the dealer who had it said that it was consigned
to him from Hull.
The stomach was remarkably thin, and contained (as Mr. Cordeaux, who examined it, informs me) nothing but turpentine and insect remains.
J. H. Gurney, Jun.
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Great Black Woodpecker
I lately received, through the kindness of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. the stomach of this bird to dissect.
This stomach, the muscular coat of which was very thin, smelt very strongly of turpentine, and contained a dark, thick, oily fluid, which I believe was almost pure turpentine.
It was well filled with insects, all of one sort: they are probably the larvae of the snake-fly or some closely-allied species.
John Cordeaux
Great Cotes
Ulceby,
Lincolnshire
November 18, 1868.
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Great Black Woodpecker in Hampshire
I have just received a letter stating that a great black woodpecker (male) was shot a few days since, at Benstead, in Hampshire.
My informant (Smithers) had the bird in his hand before it was skinned.
I am none the more certain, however, that it was shot at the place mentioned for T have known many instances of rare British birds being sent to our markets in the flesh, and from the markets sent into the country for the purpose of deceiving the unwary.
Still the statement may be true, and I will leave no stone unturned to ascertain if such be the case.
John Gould
* Anyone visiting Leadenhall Market so frequently as I do (being compelled twice a day to pass the entrance) will admire the unquestionable honesty of the dealers as demonstrated by the excessive paucity of the records of rarities source. It is marvellous how very small is the amount of records of rarities purchased in that great mart of Continental and British ornithology.
Edward Newman
Editor
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