Birds of Tsu-sima, Japan. 249 



but are easy cnougli to shoot. Although so large a bird, 

 with such violently contrasting colours — white, black, and 

 crimson — is very conspicuous^ none of the inhabitants of 

 Kechi who came to examine the spoil, and some of whom 

 worked on the mountain where it was shot, had ever seen 

 such a bird before, but on a reward being offered a second 

 male was brought in about a w'eek afterwards. 



The most extraordinary fact connected with these two skins 

 is that they afford conclusive proof of the identity of Picus 

 riduirdsi with Picus ka/i/iowskii of Corea, so that the island of 

 Tsu-sima is not now known to have any bird peculiar to itself. 

 Tristram's Woodpecker seems to vary somewhat in the amount 

 of white on the tips of the primaries. One of Mr. Hoist's 

 examples from Tsu-sima appears to have the most white, 

 the extent on the outer web of the third primary being nearly 

 an inch and a half : in the type of Picus kalinowskii from 

 Corea the white is described as being about an inch in 

 extent (Taczanowski, P. Z. S. 1887, p. 608); in the second 

 example from Tsu-sima (the one brought by the native 

 hunter to Mr. Hoist) it is about seven-eighths of an inch ; 

 whilst in the example recently presented to the British 

 Museum by Mr. Campbell, who bought it in the market of 

 Soul, the capital of Corea, it is about two-thirds of an 

 ineh^; and in Canon Tristram^s type, which is a female, it is 

 presumably still less. In the amount of white at the base 

 of the quills I can see no difference between Mr. Hoist's 

 examples from Tsu-sima and Mr. Campbell's example from 

 Corea. 



There can be no doubt that the bird from Tsu-sima is 

 of the same species as that from Corea, and that the trifling 

 difference in the amount of white at the tips of the 

 primaries is merely individual, or dependent upon age and 

 sex, but has no geographical significance. The name of 

 Picus kalinowskii, which dates from 1887, must therefore 

 be regarded as a synonym of Picus richardsi, which dates 

 from 1.879. 



* [This is the specimen fif^urud Hbo\ e, Plate V. p. 242, as Thriponax 

 kalinowskii. — Ed.] 



