Birds of the Loo-choo Islands. 177 



25. Iyngipicus kizuki nigrescenSj subsp. n. 

 The Woodpeckers are specially interesting because so many 

 of them vary in colour and size in different areas of their 

 distribution, the variation being certainly coincident with, 

 and probably caused b}^, difference of climate. The extreme 

 of climatic variation is doubtless reached in our two British 

 species of Spotted Woodpecker, Picus major and P. minur, 

 but it is also very marked in the more typical genus Iyngi- 

 picus. I. pygmaus is a resident in the Himalayas. In 

 Formosa and Hainan it is represented by a slightly larger 

 bird, with more white on the plumage, /. pygmaeus kaleensis. 

 In China it has increased in whiteness and slightly in size, 

 and becomes /. pygmceus scintilliceps ; and in South-eastern 

 Siberia the maximum both of size and whiteness is reached 

 in /. pygmceus doerriesi. It is difficult to say which error 

 ought to be more carefully avoided — the exaggeration of the 

 differences, so as to make these climatic races into distinct 

 species, or the depreciation of them to the extent of confusing 

 the climatic races together as one species. 



The Japanese species of Iyngipicus appears to have become 

 differentiated completely from /. pygmceus and its con- 

 specific forms. It agrees with that species in having black 

 upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers, but it differs from 

 it in having the white superciliary stripe separated from the 

 white sides of the neck. It is, however, itself subject to 

 climatic influence, and may be subdivided into at least three 

 climatic races. Iyngipicus kizuki was originally described 

 from Kyu-lyu, the most southern of the three Japanese 

 islands. It is a small bird, with a brown head and not very 

 much white on the upper parts ; for example, the outer webs 

 of the three longest primaries have five small white spots on 

 each. In the Central and North Island it is represented by a 

 larger bird, with a grey head and much more white on the 

 upper parts ; for example, the white spots on the outer webs 

 of the three longest primaries are larger and are six in 

 number. It is difficult to regard /. kizuki seebohmi as more 

 than subspecifically distinct from its nearest ally, especially 

 as the South-east Siberian form of this species is a still larger 



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