1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 99 



REVIEV/ OP JAPANESE BIRDS. 

 Br LEONBARD STEJNEOER. 



I.— THE WOODPECKERS. 



(With a colored plate.) 



When Oapt. Thomas Blakiston two years ago presented his magnificent 

 collection of Japanese birds to the United States National Museum he 

 also had the kindness to place his manuscript notes and catalogues in 

 the hands of the present writer, for the purpose of publishing a com- 

 plete hand-book of the ornis of Japan. 



It is my intention to write a comprehensive and reliable guide to 

 Japanese ornithology, with ample descriptions of all the known forms, 

 from original Japanese specimens. At first it was thought that the ma- 

 terial at my disposal, consisting of the collections of Blakiston and 

 Jouy, would be sufficient for the purpose. During the progress of my 

 investigations, however, I found that much more is needed, if the work 

 shall have any claim to completeness. 



Formerly it was sufficient to know that a bird was from " Japan." If 

 the description of a Japanese species was found to fit a Japanese specimen 

 approximately, the latter was identified as that species without further 

 comparison. If the original specimen was described from Nagasaki, 

 and the second one, believed to be the same, came from North Yesso, 

 the habitat of the species was given as embracing the whole of Japan. 

 The first collections were made in the southern part, in the island of 

 Kiusiu, and the new forms deposited in the museum in Leyden and 

 described by Temminck. The next collections of any importance, viz, 

 those of Blakiston and Whitely, were made at the nortliern extremity 

 of the Empire, in the neighborhood of Hakodadi, and went to England. 

 It was taken for granted that the species from the north were identical 

 with those from the south. On the other hand, when, later on, forms 

 similar to those occurring in Tesso were discovered in the Middle Island, 

 or Hondo, as it should now be called, they were unhesitatingly referred 

 to the same species. During his second sojourn in Japan, however. 

 Captain Blakiston discovered that many Siberian forms were found only 

 in Yesso, while, on the other hand, numerous species inhabiting Hondo 

 never crossed the Tsugaru Strait regularly, and furthermore, that sev- 

 eral representative forms occur on both sides of this strait which forms 

 a zoogeographical line sejjarating the Siberian and Manchurian sub- 

 regions, and which has fitly been termed •' Blakiston's line." Most of 

 the identifications of the specimens collected by him were made by 



