339 
between Taboo and Peking , North China. 
The iris was white, with a slight wash of pink. Bill bluish 
grey, except the basal edge of upper mandible and basal half of 
lower, which were greenish yellow; legs greenish grey, claws 
bluish grey. The birds had not completed their moult during 
September. 
81. Large Pied Woodpecker. Picus cabanisi ? / $4 & jb ^ 4 
This species is wonderfully similar to P. major , but does not 
quite tally with M'Gillivray’s description. Mr. Blyth identifies 
the Pied Woodpecker from Foochow and Canton with P. cabanisi, 
and I strongly suspect this is the same, though I have not spe¬ 
cimens at hand just now to compare with it. I sent Mr. Sclater 
a Canton specimen in my last box, and I now enclose the male, 
procured in the north, so that he will be able to compare and 
make his comments. 
The first and only time I met this species was near Peking on 
a cold and sunny day in November. The bird uttered the usual 
u pic-pic ” of the pied group as it flew away to an adjoining tree, 
on an upper branch of which it stood and eyed me without 
showing any signs of fear. I then saw at a glance that it was a 
larger species than any I had yet met in these parts, and when 
I shot it I was delighted to pick up what I took to be an old 
acquaintance. 
82. Pied Woodpecker. Picus -? /sf& '% f & 
I suspect this is a new species. It was quite common in all 
the groves, but very shy and unapproachable. I only managed 
to secure one male. M. Zill procured a female, which was similar 
in all respects to the male, except that the red feathers on the 
crown were exchanged for black ones, and the top of the beak 
was black freckled with yellowish grey. This bird generally 
prefers the higher branches of the trees, round which it dodges, 
and so eludes observation. If the intruder comes too near, he 
hears the bird utter the notes “pic-pic and before he can again 
get a glance at it, the noise of the quick beats of its wing reaches 
his ear, and he sees the creature disappear with a rise-and-fall 
flight into an adjoining copse. This bird also often repeats that 
peculiar rattle that P. major is heard to do at home. The noise 
may well be imitated by pressing one end of a stick on a table 
