36 



rather shorter bills. The points in which they further differ are the following. Instead of having the 

 crown black, with a red occipital crest, as in the adult male, or wholly black, as in the female, the 

 forehead is dull buff, the fore part of the head crimson, and the occiput black. The quills have all 

 conspicuous white tips ; and the penultimate tail-feather is also spotted with the latter colour ; but the 

 chief distinction lies in the crimson band which extends across the chest, which is likewise narrowly 

 striped with dusky black. Total length 8 inches, culmen 095, wing 4 - 85, tail 3 - 0, tarsus O8o. 



Obs. It will perhaps be a matter of surprise to ornithologists that we have united, without a query, Picus 



/elicits and Picus syriacus; but the possibility of such a conclusion has been foreshadowed by Professor 



Sundevall (Consp. Pic. p. 23), who, however, at that time had not personally examined Picus felicice. 



Messrs. Cabauis and Heine have actually placed the two birds in different genera, an arrangement 



acquiesced in by Mr. G. R. Gray in the 'Hand-list' (ii. p. 182). According to these principles of 



classification, the young of Picus major would be placed in a different genus from the old bird ; and 



it can hardly be doubted that an arrangement which would bring about such a conclusion must be 



very artificial. On the other hand, however, we have in Professor SundevalPs admirable synopsis 



a much better classification of the Pied Woodpeckers, and one which seems to us to be in strict 



accordance with their natural affinities : thus the character of chief importance is considered to be 



the presence or absence of the black line of feathers which crosses the sides of the neck behind the 



ear-coverts, a peculiarity possessed by all the species of the P. major group, but wanting in both 



P. syriacus and P. felicice, which have the cheeks and sides of the neck uninterruptedly white. This 



common character brings the two last-named species at once into close proximity ; and the following 



observations will, we trust, serve to prove that they are not really separable. The points of difference 



have been stated above in the descriptions of the old and young birds ; and a very little reflection is 



necessary to perceive that the young bird of Picus felicice, supposed to be at present unknown, must be 



marvellously like P. syriacus. On the other hand this latter bird has a red line across the breast, 



which has always been considered a mark of maturity. This would seem to indicate clearly that there 



are two species, differing in constant characters, each confined to a particular locality ; but this is not 



in reality the case. We have now before us the type of Antinori's Picus cruentatus (kindly lent us by 



Count' Salvadori from the Turin Museum), which is from Syria, has the red band on the breast, and 



agrees in every particular with examples collected at Smyrna by Dr. Kriiper, and labelled by him as 



young birds. Then, again, the typical specimen of Picus syriacus, described by Messrs. Hemprich and 



Ehrenberg, from Mount Lebanon, is distinctly stated to have the red on the chest ; so that there can be 



little doubt that Picus cruentatus is positively identical with P. syriacus. It is a curious fact that 



Antinori was two years before he coiild procure old birds of his P. cruentatus ; and from a perusal of 



his descriptions we are now of opinion that the specimen which he calls the adult was really nothing 



more than a young male in a state of change ; the iris, too, which is stated to be nut-brown in colour, 



is also a sign of immaturity. It now remains to unite Picus cruentatus vel syriacus with P. felicice. 



Malherbe has figured both species ; and it was from a comparison of the plates alone that Professor 



Sundevall was led to a suspicion of their identity. They both occupy the same area; for Professor 



Newton has kindly examined the specimen brought back by Strickland from Smyrna (s. n. P. major), 



and tells us that it is certainly P. felicice. " The specimen," he writes, " is labelled a female, and 



there is no red band on the breast." This shows that the bird is fully adult ; and the coexistence of 



P. felicice and P. syriacus at Smyrna is established ; while its range to the southward, as far as Palestine, 



is proved by the large series of specimens brought back by Canon Tristram from that country. And it 



extends to the eastward as far as Persia ; for here De Filippi met with it, and named it Picus khan ; but 



Count Salvadori has examined the type specimen and confirmed its identity with P. syriacus. Among 



Canon Tristram's Palestine examples is a skin of an adult male which exhibits slight remains of a red 



