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Europe, which constitutes a distinct species: this we propose to call P. lilfordi, after Lord 

 Lilford, who first drew our attention to the characters in which the birds differed. Instead of 

 having the back white, as in the Swedish species, it is broadly barred across with black ; and the 

 crown of the head is of a different crimson in the bird from Greece. The Plates, however, will 

 best illustrate the distinctive characteristics of the two birds. 



The White-backed Woodpecker appears to be quite unknown in Denmark, the Low 

 Countries, and the greater part of France, as well as Italy and Spain ; nor has it yet occurred in 

 the British Islands. Mr. E. Collett, in his work on the birds of Norway, writes : — " It breeds 

 all over the lower part of the provinces of Christiania and Hamar, in some places numerously, as 

 at Smaalehnene, Egnene, about the Skiensfjord, and on Hedemarken. It seems, however, to be 

 most numerous in the southern part of the province of Trondhjem, where, in the CErkedal and 

 Surendal, it is the commonest species. To the westward it is found as far as Nedemes, in the 

 province of Christiansand, but is not known in the western part of the country." " This bird," 

 writes Nilsson, " is found sporadically on our peninsula, and belongs more to the northerly part 

 than the high north or south. In the dense pine-forests of Upper Wermland I found it common ; 

 and it is said to be the same in Northern Upland. I also met with it in the pine-forests of 

 Hallingdal, in Norway, nearly as far as Aal. In Sodermanland it is rare, and only occasionally 

 seen in the winter. In the northern, and more particularly the north-eastern, parts of Smaland 

 it is not uncommon. It is found breeding on Gottland (Wallengren). In Skane it is rare, but 

 has been shot there in the summer, as, for instance, in the Tinnans forest, below Osbyholm, in 

 the middle of May ; and I have once seen one here at Lund, in a garden, in the middle of 

 December." Herr Magnus von Wright says that it occurs often near Kuopio, in Eastern Finland, 

 but is rare in the southern parts of that country. Dresser during his sojourn there only saw it 

 on two occasions near Bjorneborg, in Northern Finland, and could never hear of it further north. 

 In Livonia it is, according to Meyer, found not uncommonly, and visits gardens and places in the 

 neighbourhood of houses. We have an example in our collection from the neighbourhood of 

 Moscow ; and an excellent account of the species in Poland will be found below from the pen of 

 Dr. Taczanowski. Borggreve says it is very rare in Eastern Germany, and doubts Gloger's 

 statement that it is common in Prussia and Silesia, or nests there. " Only one specimen is in the 

 Konigsberg Museum. In Bock's collection there is not a single one. It has been once recorded 

 from Bohemia, and once from Mecklenburg; and two have been procured at different times at 

 Neustadt-Eberswald." Dr. Anton Fritsch records it as having been several times captured in 

 Bohemia ; and Bitter von Tschusi procured a male bird in the Arnsdorf mountains, in Southern 

 Austria. According to Degland and Gerbe it frequents the forests adjoining Urdos, in the 

 Hautes-Pyrenees, where it breeds. M. Loche procured both adult and immature birds from 

 thence. 



For the exact determination of its eastern range in Europe we must await future researches ; 

 for the bird from Turkey is P. lilfordi, and we suspect that the Woodpecker which Professor 

 von Nordmann refers to as occurring in Southern Bussia, but which has not yet been observed to 

 the eastward of Bessarabia, also belongs to the latter species. We must mention, however, that 

 the Woodpecker from the Volga is the true Picus leuconotus, as we have ascertained by the 

 examination of specimens in the collection of Mr. Edward Hargitt. 



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