637. Dendrocopus minor

637. BARRED WOODPECKER.
DENDROCOPUS MINOR.
Dendrocopus minor (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 176 (1766) ; (Naum.) v. p. 334, Taf. 136, figs. 3, 4 ; (Hewitson), i. p. 241, pl. lxi. fig. 4 ; (Gould), B. of E. iii. pl. 231 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iii. pl. lxxii ; (Newton), ii. p. 477 ; (Dresser), v. p. 53, pl. 282 ; Hargitt, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xviii. p. 252 ; (Tacz.), F. O. Sib. O. p. 703 ; (Seebohm), B. of Jap. Emp. p. 155 ; Saunders, p. 277 ; Lilford, ii. p. 10, pl. 4 ; D. quadrifasciatus (Radde), Orn. Cauc. p. 315, pl. 19, fig. 5 ; Hargitt, tom. cit. p. 256.
Pic epeichette, French ; Peto gallego, Portug. ; Pipo, Span. ; Picchio piccolo, Ital. ; Kleiner Buntspecht, German ; Mindste Flagspet, Dan. ; Liden Flagspet, Norw. ; Lilla Hackspett, Swed. Tsitsach-tschaitne, Lapp. ; Pieni Tikka, Finn. ; Maloui-Dyatell, Russ.
Male ad. (Sweden). Upper parts generally black, barred with white ; fore¬head and lores buffy white ; crown pale crimson ; lower back black barred with black ; sides of the head buffy white ; crown bordered by a narrow black stripe ; malar stripe black continued to the sides of the neck where it joins a black triangular patch ; outer tail-feathers white, barred with black on the basal portion ; under parts dull white tinged with brown on the breast and flanks, the sides of the upper breast striped with black ; bill and legs dusky plumbeous ; iris reddish. Culmen 0.65, wing 3.8. tail 2.45, tarsus 0.55 inch. The female has the crown whitish, not crimson. The young are duller in colour ; the young male has the crown dull crimson, but only the forepart is crimson in the young female.
Hab. Europe generally, from Lapland to the Mediterranean ; Azores ; Algeria ; Asia through Southern Siberia to Mongolia, Manchuria, and Yezo in Japan.
Throughout its range it is a resident or only a partial migrant, and affects deciduous trees, especially fruit trees, in preference to conifers. Its flight is a succession of bow-shaped dips and whirring. It is very active and restless, and its note, which is softer and lower than that of its congeners, is kiik, kiik, kiik, kiik,, uttered several times in succession. It feeds on insects of various hinds and their larvae and eggs. Its nest is usually bored in a non-evergreen tree at from 6 to 20 feet above the ground, and its 4 to 6 glossy white eggs arc deposited in May or June, and in size average 0.74 by 0.56.