ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 233 



webs of the primaries are quite separate and not confluent along the 

 inner margin of the quill. 



This beautiful bird needs no further comparison with the allied forms 

 than is given above. The Japan^ese form seems to be related to it in a 

 similar way as is JDryobafcs mm' r hor toruni (Brm., 1831) {=^ striolatus 

 Macg., 1840) to the Scandinavian true D. minor (Lin.) (=D. minor bor- 

 ealis SuNDEV.), and is probably indistinguishable from D. minor pipra 

 (Pall.) from Siberia. Should intergradation with the Siberian form 

 really occur, the question will arise whether our new form should stand 

 as D. minor immaculatus or D. pipra immaculatus. This is a i)oint of 

 the trinominal nomenclature which is not yet decided upon by the lead- 

 ing triuominalists. 



V. Kittlitz (/. c.) states that " Picns minor ist hier [Petropaulski, lat- 

 ter part of September] nicht selten, jedenfalls hiiufiger als der ebenfalls 

 hier einzeln vorkommende Piciis major'''' ( = my P. pur us), which is con- 

 trary to my experience, as the specimen which I collected was the only 

 one I saw during my stay in Petropaulski. It was shot on the wooded 

 peninsula sheltering the harbor, where it flew restlessly from one birch 

 (Betula ermani) to another. 



The dimensions of this specimen are : 



(? ad. — U. 8. Nat. Mus. No. 92700, L. Stejneger No. 2757. Petropaulski, October 9, 1883. 



Total length, 167"i"i ; tail beyond wings, 24™""; wing, 97™™; tail-feathers, 61™™; 

 exposed culnieu, 18™™. 



Remarks. — Iris bright hazel. Bill pure gray, darker above ; a narrow dark stripe 

 along the gonys. Feet gray, with a light greenish tinge. 



