CHAP. X. 



WOODPECKERS. 



109 



which was in full song, for at least an hour, but did not 

 succeed in shooting it. Many white wagtails flew past, and 

 the reed-buntings were also common. Where the birches 

 were largest we heard the tapping of the woodpeckers. We 

 shot a pair of lesser spotted woodpeckers ; * and of a pair of 

 three-toed woodpeckers f that we saw, we succeeded in 



Athens that it is only found in Greece 

 and Asia Minor in winter. Captain 

 Shelley says that it winters in Nubia 

 and Egypt, and Canon Tristram records 

 it as abundant in the oases of North 

 Africa in winter. I have also seen 

 skins collected in winter from the 

 river Gambia, Damara Laud, Cape 

 Town, Natal, the Transvaal, and Abys- 

 sinia. In Siberia Finsch and Brehm 

 found it in the valley of the Obb, and 

 I constantly heard its song in the valley 

 of the Yenesay up to latitude 70°. The 

 Siberian birds are probably those which 

 have been found wintering in North- 

 Central, and South-Eastern Persia. 



* The Siberian lesser spotted wood- 

 pecker (PscMs pipra. Pall.) is very 

 nearly allied to the smallest species 

 of British woodpecker (^Picus minor, 

 Linn.), but differs in being larger and 

 in having the whole of the nnderparts 

 unspotted silky white, with the excep- 

 tion of the under-tail coverts, which 

 are slightly streaked with black. The 

 outside tail-feathers have two rudi- 

 mentary cross-bars. The transverse 

 bars on the back and rump are nearly 

 obsolete. This species is the Pious 

 kamchatkensis of Cabanis, Bonaparte, 

 Sundevall, and Malherbe. I have shot 

 it at Archangel as well as in the 

 valley of the Petchora, and have seen 



skins from the Yenesay, Lake Baical, 

 and the Amoor. I have also in my 

 collection examples from the islands of 

 Sakhalin and Yezzo, north of Japan. 

 Compared with the South European 

 form it is an excellent species, but 

 birds from Norway and Sweden are 

 somewhat intermediate, being as large 

 as the Siberian species, but in the 

 colour and markings of the back and 

 underparts scarcely differing from the 

 South European form. In the valley 

 of the Petchora we found the Siberian 

 species not uncommon in the birch 

 forests as far north as the latter ex- 

 tended, where they doubtless remain 

 throughout the year. 



■f The three-toed woodpecker (P«- 

 coides tridactylus, Linn.) has probably 

 never occurred in the British Islands, 

 but is a resident species throughout 

 Northern Europe and Asia, and the 

 mountainous districts of Central and 

 Southern Europe and South Siberia. 

 In the valley of the Petchora we did 

 not observe it farther north than 

 latitude 67°. On the continent of 

 America it is replaced by a species 

 (^Ficoides americanus, Brehra) so nearly 

 allied, as to be considered by many 

 ornithologists to be only subspeoifically 

 distinct. 



