268 MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. [JutlC 23, 



51. Gecinus guerinii, Malherbe. 



Originally described from specimens from Shanghai. Procured 

 by Captain Blakiston on the Yangtsze, near Shanghai. Differs 

 chiefly from G. canus in its smaller size, in its deeper and more olive 

 plumage, in its larger frontal red patch, and in having a black-marked 

 occiput. 



52. Gecinus tancola, Gould, P. Z. S. 1863; Swinhoe, Ibis, 

 1863, p. 389. 



Allied to G. occipitalis. The young in the nest are similar to 

 their parents in colour and markings, showing the usual sexual dis- 

 tinction ; in this respect they differ from G. viridis, which has an 

 immature dress. I have a young pair (male and female) taken, 

 with the male parent, from a tree on the Pehling Mountains, near 

 Foochow. This species ranges over the higher hills of South China 

 and Formosa. 



G. guerinii, from an intermediate locality, is quite intermediate 

 between this and the true G. canus. In G. canus the black on the 

 crown shows itself in faint streaks ; in G. guerinii it becomes marked, 

 and extends in a patch to the occiput ; in G. tancola it is much more 

 extensive. In the same way the black moustache-streak, indistinct 

 and disconnected in the first, is more connected in the second, and 

 in the third a broad black line. In fact, part with part compared, 

 the entire plumage of G. guerinii takes an intermediate position be- 

 tween the two. Nevertheless specimens of G. canus from Pekin 

 are identical with European specimens, and show the barred imma- 

 ture plumage. 



53. Picus MANDARiNUs, Malherbs. 



P. luciani, ] 



P. gouldii, I Malherbe, Mon. Picidse. 



P. cabanisi, J 



For remarks on this group of Chinese Woodpeckers, see P. Z. S. 

 1863, p. 88. Races of this variable bird are found throughout 

 China, from Canton to Pekin. The further north they extend the 

 whiter and more spotted they become, until the Amoorland is reached, 

 where von Schrenck reports the form identical with P. major of 

 Europe. 



54. Picus sciNTiLLiCEPS, Swiuhoe, Ibis, 1863, p. 96. 

 Belongs to the spark-headed group of small Pied Woodpeckers, of 



which numerous species are recorded. Common about Pekin. A 

 smaller and browner species occurs in Japan (the P. kisuki of the 

 Faun. Jap.) ; and the form is represented in Formosa by a species 

 allied to the Chinese bird — my P. kaleensis (see The Ibis, 1863, 

 p. 390). 



55. Picus HYPERYTHRUs, Vigors, var. poliopsis, Swinhoe. 



Abundant near Pekin. The Chinese bird is too close to that of 

 the Himalayas to be considered more than a variety of that bird (see 



