IYNGIPICUS SCINTILLICEPS. 



Swinhoe's Pygrny Woodpecker. 



Picus sp., Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 340. 



Picus scintilliceps, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1863, p. 90.— Sundev. Consp. Av. Picin. p. 27 (1866).— Gray, List Picid. 



Brit. Mus. p. 41 (1868).— Id. Hand-list of Birds, ii. p. 183, no. 8577 (1870). 

 Baopipo scintilliceps, Cabanis and Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 55 (1863). 

 Picus canifrons, Sundev. Consp. Av. Picin. p. 26 (1866). 



Yungipicus scintilliceps, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 392.— David and Oustalet, Ois. Chine, p. 50 (1878). 

 Iyngipicus scintilliceps, Hargitt, Ibis, 1881, p. 398. 



This species, as I am informed by Mr. Hargitt, can scarcely be considered more than a larger race of 

 /. kaleensis ; but the differences, he tells me, consist in its larger size and in the colour of the back. The 

 middle of the latter is white, with the lower back and rump black banded with white ; there is also more 

 white spotting on the wing-coverts. It is necessary to examine perfectly adult birds, as in immature speci- 

 mens the white back is often more or less barred with black, not only in /. scintilliceps, but in all the allied 

 species I.pygmceus, I. kaleensis, and I.doerriesi, all of which, in Mr. Hargitt's opinion, are races of one form. 



The present bird was described by Mr. Swinhoe in his " Notes on Ornithology between Takoo and Peking, 

 North China," published in « The Ibis ' for 1861. He says : — " It was very common, but seldom observable 

 to any but a watchful eye, as it affected the tip-top branches of the highest trees. It remains for long spaces 

 of time on one bough, and does not show half the alacrity in the pursuit of its food that the other species do. 

 It generally prefers the thin dead branches at the tops of forest trees, where, no doubt, it finds a plentiful 

 supply of small maggots, many of which I have taken from the stomachs of those shot. Its cry is a weak 

 attempt at "pic pic;" and its flight, undulatory as in the former instances, is remarkable also for the same 

 noise, produced by quick successive beats of the wing. This peculiar sound of the wings I have also observed 

 in Parus paluslris of this place, made as the little fellow drops from a high branch down to a lower." 



Abbe David writes : — " This little Woodpecker is sedentary in Northern China, everywhere where there are 

 trees, occurring even in the middle of the villages. At Pekin it is more abundant in winter than in summer. 

 I have also met with it commonly in Chansi during the cold weather; and all the individuals that I 

 observed in this region had their colours duller than those from the north, as takes place also in the 

 case of Picus mandarinus." 



A more detailed description of this species is not necessary, after the diagnosis given above. The 

 figures in the Plate represent a pair of birds of the size of life, drawn from the type specimens kindly 

 lent me by Mr. Henry Seebohm, [R. B. S.] 



