'11111 DRUIIMING OF THE GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER.
[To THE EDITOR Of THE "SPECTATOR."] Sm,—In his notice of Mies Frances Pitt's Woodland Creatures in the Spectator of August 5th your reviewer draws special attention to the interesting question of the real nature of the " drumming" of the greater spotted woodpecker. He is inclined to believe that it is really vocal, rather than Instrumental, and asks : "Is there any other bird which . . uses wood or any other external material with which to produce a sound?" In answer we must say that there appears to be at least one well authenticated case of such instrumental musics, namely, that of the ruffed grouse of North America, which is reported to "drum" on fallen loge.
As for the greater spotted woodpecker itself, it is very hard to catch the bird at his performance. I have continually heard the sound—which is totally different from the tapping made by the bird in search of food—in Swiss woods in the spring, but only once have I seen the performer in the act, and that was In England some years ago. After following the sound of the drum for some time I at last obtained a good view through my Zeiss glasses. The woodpecker was perched on the upright trunk of a tree, the bark of which was well fissured. It apparently thrust its beak into one of the vertical fissures, and while pro- ducing the sound vibrated its head rapidly from side to side. Personally, I was quite convinced that the sound was purely instrumental.
The lesser spotted woodpecker, by the way, produces a similar sound, but the note is much shriller and thinner than that produced by Dendrocopus major.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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