Northern Flicker
Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Photo © Iain H Leach
STATUS
North and middle America. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1836 Wiltshire Amesbury Park, Bloxworth, killed, autumn.
(G. S. Marsh, Zoologist 1859: 6327; A. C. Smith, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 9: 48; Smart, 1886; W. B. Alexander & R. S. R. Fitter, British Birds 48: 8).
[BOU, 1883; G. B. Hony, British Birds 7: 281; Not in BOU, 1971].
History George S. Marsh of Chippenham (1859) in The Zoologist, 1st series, Vol. XVII. p. 6327, dated 10th December 1858, says: 'I have in my collection a specimen of the Golden-winged Woodpecker, killed in Amesbury Park, in the autumn of 1836. My brother, now Member for Salisbury, saw this bird in the flesh before it was preserved; it was brought to him just after it was shot. I have never heard of any other specimen of this bird being killed in England: it is, I believe, a native of South America. It is something like the common Green Woodpecker, but has more yellow on the wing, and black spots on the breast. It was preserved by Mr. Edwards, of Amesbury, and has never been out of my possession.'
A. C. Smith (1866) in the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, Vol. IX. p. 48, says: 'There is but one instance recorded of the appearance of this beautiful bird in England, and that was in the autumn of 1836 at Amesbury Park in this county: it was brought to M. H. Marsh, Esq., the present Member for Salisbury, in the flesh, immediately after it was shot it was preserved by Mr. Edwards, of Amesbury, and came into the collection of the late Rev. G. Marsh, of Sutton Benger. It is a native of South America, and in general appearance and size bears some resemblance to the common Green Woodpecker, but differs from it in having bright yellow bars on the wings, and black spots on the breast, moreover the throat and chest are cinnamon colour, and a broad crescentic patch of black crosses the chest.'
Not admitted nationally in their first List of British Birds (BOU 1883: 79-80).
Smart (1886: 49-50) says: 'Professor Newton excludes it "on the principle already acted upon". Mr. Seebohm says: "there can be little doubt that the bird was shot in this country but had most probably escaped from a cage". The account of the occurrence is given by Harting, "Mr Marsh says my brother, now member for Salisbury, saw the bird in the flesh before it was preserved; it was brought to him just after it was shot; it was preserved by Edwards, of Amesbury: and has never been out of my possession". It was shot at Amesbury, in Wiltshire, in the Autumn of 1836.'
G. Bathurst Hony (1914) in British Birds, Vol. VII. p. 281, says: 'Since the appearance of the Rev. A. C. Smith's Birds of Wiltshire in 1887 many new county records have naturally occurred. I now propose to give the more interesting of those I have collected, some of which have been published before, but many of which are now published for the first time. Perhaps the presentation of these in a collected form may cause other records to be brought to light. Smith records the occurrence of 235 species, but he was too wont - to use his own words - to "give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt."
For the present, the following nine species must be placed in brackets as being admitted on insufficient evidence, or not being genuine wild birds, though facts may come to light -which will put some of them on a sound footing....'
[Golden-winged Woodpecker (Colaptes auratus) was not accepted by Newton in Yarrell (II. 486). The recent Hand-List of British Birds says: "the specimen said to have been shot in Wilts in 1836 was no doubt due to importation."]
W. B. Alexander & R. S. R. Fitter (1955) in British Birds, Vol. XLVIII. p. 8, say: 'This woodpecker is migratory, and is an unlikely cage-bird. The most suspicious circumstance about its occurrence is that another, non-migratory, American woodpecker, the Downy, occurred in Dorset in December of the same year. In view of the explicit and obviously trustworthy statements of the man who shot the Flicker (Marsh, 1859), the phrase "said to have been shot in Wiltshire" used about the record by most subsequent authors is distinctly misleading. Clearly the only question is whether somebody had liberated it nearby, and that we shall never know.'
