Letters, Announcements, §c. 227 



one on the inner web, the latter corresponding with one of 

 the former, but not meeting it as in P. medius ; perhaps in 

 fresh moult these feathers may have a small white tip, of 

 which, however, no trace remains in the specimens collected. 

 The outermost rectrices have a white tip, a rather irregular 

 white bar about half an inch from the end, much narrower 

 than the black band beyond it, and one or two more white 

 spots on one or both webs nearer their base. Scapulars white j 

 wing-coverts brownish black, some of those next the scapu- 

 laries edged and tipped with white ; quills brownish black, with 

 white spots on both margins, those on the outer primaries 

 being about as long as the intervening black spaces ; altogether 

 these spots form six bands on the primaries and four on the 

 secondaries, the band at the base being partly concealed by 

 the coverts. These bands are conspicuously broader than in 

 P. medius. Breast dull white, with imperfect black gorget ; 

 sides of the breast and flanks, which are greyish, and the ab- 

 domen, with narrow, long, black streaks ; middle of abdomen 

 yellow ; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts scarlet. 

 Of this new Woodpecker three specimens were procured 

 in the oak-forests near Shiraz by Major St. John, R.E., after 

 whom I have named the species. 



XXVI. — Letters, Announcements, fyc. 



The following letters, addressed " To the Editor of ' The 

 Ibis/ " have been received : — 



Ningpo, December 1872. 



Dear Sir,— Last mail has placed ' The Ibis ' of July in my 

 hands. Mr. J. H. Gurney (p. 328) refers to my confusing 

 Scops japonicus with a species of Lempijius. I regret the 

 blunder and have been at some pains to clear up the matter. 

 The bird I procured at Tamsuy (N.W. Formosa) (noted in 

 'The Ibis/ 1865, p. 348) was the bird now in the Norwich 

 museum, 'which Mr. Gurney discovered to be a Lempijius. 

 I received it from the interior, in skin, and could not note 

 the colour of its eyes. But the bird procured at a later date 



