1880.] PR()CIOI<:i)IN(;.S OF IJNITKIJ STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. Ill 



coimectiou is that Otay, in his Iland-list, II, p. 181, gives P. gouldii as 

 ill the British Mnseiitri froin " Ja[)aii." 



It iwS evident from Seebolitn's rouiarks tliat lie lias li<;lit specimens 

 from the Middle Island; so have I, and 1 have also dark ones from 

 Yesso, Imt all these are winter birds. There are also several specimens 

 in the (collection before nje which seem to be intermediate, not only in 

 ivyard to the (joloriug of the lower surface, but also as to the amount 

 of white on the shoulders. 



The conclusions which I draw from the above facts are, that Jai)an 

 s(mth of " Blakiston's line" has received its Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 from China, while the inhabitant of Yesso originally immigrated k-om the 

 adjacent parts of Siberia. The intermediate forms I regard as hybrids. 

 The (Ireat S])otted Woodpeckers are known to be great travelers in an 

 tiimn and winter,* straggling around the country in all directions. To 

 tliem the narrow streets of Tsugaru is no obstacle, hence we may 

 tiud jajjonievfi in winter in Hondo, and (jouldii at the same season in 

 Yesso. That under such circumstances hybridization takes pla<je on a 

 large scale between so closely allied species cannot cause surprise, not- 

 withstanding the probability that most of the straggling specimens will 

 retreat to their original homes towards the breeding season. It must 

 also be remembered that our collections have been chiefly made in dis- 

 tricts where the hybrids would most likely occur, viz, in the districts of 

 the Middle Islands north of the line Owari-Tsuruga, and in the south 

 nn part of Yesso. The probability is, that in Southern Japan the dark 

 species will be found more exclusively and more pure-bred. The hy 

 j)(»thesis is strengthened by numerous similar, or even more distinct, 

 ciises of ]Manchurian and Siberian species entering Jaj^an respectively 

 Jiom the south and the north. 



It is plain that the " intergradation," in this case, does not i)rove the 

 two forms to be geograjihical races of the same species in the sense in 

 which it is commonly adopted; that is to say, the two forms have not 

 differentiated in Japan. They came to Japan as two well-defined species 

 "separated by a hard and fast line," and by different roads of immi- 

 gration; they met there and intermingled to a certain degree. The 

 <ase is absolutely parallel to what, in some instances, has taken place 

 in the Scandinavian peninsula, wheie Siberian foiins coming from the 

 northeast and ('entral liUroi)ertii forms from the s(tutli meet eaeli other 

 and obscure their distinctiveness by an extensive hybridization, a con- 

 dition of affairs which should always be borne in miml when speaking 

 of '• intermediate links" from Scandinavia. 



The two Japanese forms (X>. japonicufi and (/ovUlii) differ from the 

 I'^uropeau J), major in having exposed white spots in the inner webs 



* Cf. D. major passing Hcligolanrl "regularly, never in large q nan ti ties, bnt most 

 mmierons in autumn" (Soebolun, Brit. B. Eggs, II, :{.'34, note), and 7). //»»•?«>> frossingovor 

 to the tii?cleN8 Bering Island, a distance of at least 10(i milt^H (Stejneger, Orn. Explor. 

 Kumtscb., p. 231.) 



