244 Mr. E. Hargitt on the Woodpeckers 



species and a few desert and monntain birds nest in Northern 

 Tibet. 



The mountain-edge of the Tibetan plateau bordering on 

 Zaidam affords more attractive ground for wintering and^ 

 indeed, for residence. On their northern outliers, which are 

 developed into a grand Alp-like chain, amongst the deep 

 gullies, the banks of Avhich are clothed with dense thickets of 

 Myricaria, and here and there open into very presentable 

 little meadows — amongst these more endurable retreats some 

 of the resident and wintering species which are not met with 

 on the highlands find a friendly asylum. Of the resident 

 birds the commonest are the Wall-creeper [Tichodroma mu- 

 raria) , the Brown Accentor (Accentor fulvescens), the Moun- 

 tain-Partridge {Caccabis niciffna) ; and of the winter visitants 

 the Mountain-Finches [Leucosticte hcematopygia and Monti- 

 fringiUa adamsi), which collect together in enormous flocks, 

 and the Solitary Snipe (Scolopax solitaria), which is found 

 solitary near the water-springs. 



XXIX. — Notes on Woodpeckers. — No. VIII. On the Genus 

 Hemicercus. By Edward Hargitt, F.Z.S. 



Perhaps in no genus of Woodpeckers has there been so 

 much confusion as in Hemicercus, owing partly to the 

 various stages of plumage through which H. sordidus and 

 H. concretus pass, and also to the careless determination of 

 the sexes, to which tlie specimens of H. canente and H. cor- 

 datus have been subject. The researches of later years have, 

 I think, settled the latter vexed question beyond all doubt ; 

 and the large series of specimens of H. sordidus which has 

 been at my disposal has enabled me to offer, as I trust, a 

 satisfactory solution of a difficulty which has been present 

 for many years to students of the Malayan avifauna. 



Three ornithologists of note have written on the latter 

 subject. First of all, Count Salvadori, who recognizes the 

 four following species of the present genus as inhabiting the 

 Indo -Malayan region : — 



