250 



have received a specimen of what is said to be typical Plcus cissa from Mr. Pleske, a male which 

 was obtained at Tomsk, and I have carefully compared it with my series of Picus major, failing 

 to find any character by which it can be separated. It is certainly whiter on the underparts, and 

 has more white on the wings than the average run of specimens of P. major; but I have a 

 specimen from France which is quite as white, and one from Tolagi, in the Archangel Govern- 

 ment, which agrees closely with it. I have not had an opportunity of examining specimens 

 from Ivamtschatka, so cannot say if they differ from the bird from Tomsk. On the other hand, 

 it appears to me that Picus leucopterus is sufficiently differentiated to be entitled to specific rank, 

 and I have therefore decided to treat it accordingly. 



This species, so far as I can ascertain, is found from the eastern part of Transcaspia through 

 Turkestan to the Lob-nor in Western Mongolia. According to Mr. Zarudny (Rech. Zool. d. 1. 

 Contr. Trans-Casp. p. 54), " it is common in the woods skirting the Tedgend and the Murghab. 

 On the 8th of August one was observed in the saxauls near Dorte-Koyou, where it had probably 

 straggled from a forest of ' torangues ' near Tchongoul-Djare." 



Messrs. Radde and Walter (Vog. Transcap. p. 78) state that they procured five specimens 

 which were obtained in the district from Karybend to below Serachs, on the Tedgend, except 

 one, which was shot on the Murghab. On the 1st of April they were seen frequenting the high 

 tamarisk-thickets and were paired. According to Severtzoff (Ibis, 1875, p. 490) this Woodpecker 

 is resident in Turkestan, being only somewhat migratory in winter, and inhabits the lower 

 forests of tree-groves of -the Tian-shan, the Upper Syr and the Lower Syr, the Iany-Darja, and 

 the Lower Oxus, and is particularly numerous around Tashkend. Dr. Pleske says (Rev. Turk. 

 Orn. p. 43) that it was obtained by Russoff at Tschinas, Samarkand, the Dugdan Pass, and 

 Iskander-kul, and breeds in the last-named locality. 



Dr. Scully (Str. Feath. iv. p. 134) only saw it near Yarkand in the winter, when it was far 

 from common. He only obtained one at Beshkant. It frequents, he says, large trees growing 

 near the shrines, and is said to move northwards to the forest-region in the neighbourhood of 

 Aksu in the summer. 



Col. Biddulph (2nd Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 109) first saw it between Sanju and Yarkand, and it 

 was common everywhere in the plains of Turkestan, especially between Kashghar and Maralbashi 

 during the winter, but he did not see it on their return in May. According to Mr. Hargitt it 

 ranges as far east as the Lob-nor, in Western Mongolia, but neither Prjevalski nor Messrs. Grum- 

 Grzimailo appear to have met with it. 



Mr. Zarudny writes (/. c.) that " in its habits it resembles P. major, but its call is softer, 

 though comparatively more frequently uttered. On perceiving an Owl reposing on a tree, or on 

 discovering the den of a wolf, jackal, tiger, or wild boar, it rests on a tree and utters its call, and 

 is soon joined by other Woodpeckers, who keep up the concert near the bird or animal. Usually 

 it is a wild boar that causes this, hence their name of Dongouse-Kouche, which means ' wild 

 boar-bird.' The young leave the nest early in June, and about the middle of August some have 

 already assumed the adult dress. The old birds moult in the second half of July or the first 

 half of August." 



Dr. Severtzoff says that it frequents the groves of wild apricot, walnut, ash (Fraxinus), elm 

 (TJlmus), and poplar, and is to be met with as high as the poplar grows, or about 8000 feet. It 



