154 SCANSORES. 



from carpal joint about 5J inches) with no white on the back except 

 on the scapulars^ and the crimson on the underparts scarcely ex- 

 tending above the under tail-coverts. 



Figures : Dresser, Birds of Europe, v. pi. 275 (typical race) . 



The Great Spotted Woodpecker was first recorded as a Japanese 

 bird on the authority of Mr. Heine, who obtained it at Hakodadi in 

 May 1854, during the Perry Expedition (Cassin, Exp. Am. Squad. 

 China Seas and Japan, ii. p. 222). Other examples were recorded 

 from the same locality, obtained in October 1857 by Dr. Henderson 

 during the cruise of the ' Portsmouth ' (Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. 

 Philad. 1858, p. 195), and the characters in whicb they differed from 

 the European form were pointed out. It appears to be generally 

 distributed in the Japanese Islands ; I have three examples obtained 

 by Mr. Snow in the Kurile Islands, and five examples obtained by 

 Captain Blakiston in Yezzo, where it appears to be a resident, as the 

 dates on the skins are February, March, May, and November. 

 There are twelve examples in the Pryer collection from Yokohama. 



The range of the Great Spotted Woodpecker extends westwards 

 from Japan across Siberia and Europe to the British Islands. The 

 variations in the plumage of this species are considerable and appear 

 to be climatic. The arctic race extends across Lapland and Siberia, 

 and may be called Picus major cissa. The throat, breast, and flanks 

 are pure white, and the terminal half of the tertiaries is black. The 

 typical form inhabiting Southern Scandinavia and Western Europe 

 is an intermediate one, the extreme of the first character being found 

 in the Caucasus : this race is called Picus major poetzami, and has 

 the throat, breast, and flanks chocolate-brown. The extreme of the 

 second character is found in Japan : this race is called Picus major 

 japonicus (Seebohm, Ibis, 1883, p. 24), and has the tertials crossed 

 by three broad white bands, only interrupted by a black shaft-line, 

 one of the bands being nearly terminal. 



The young in first plumage of the Japanese race differs so much 

 from that of the west European that the two races may possibly 

 prove to be specifically distinct. The young of our birds have nearly 

 uniform buffish-white underparts, whilst those of the Japanese race 

 are profusely streaked with black on the flanks, and more or less so 

 on the throat and breast. 



My examples from the Kurile Islands and from Yezzo are on an 

 average whiter on the underparts than those from Southern Japan, 

 but they do not differ from them in the amount of white on the 



