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Oriental Forms of the Pygmy Woodpecker

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Oriental Forms of the Pygmy Woodpecker 56Z• GREENWAY,Forms o[ PygmyWoodpecker L]-Auk oct. its secretwinter home seventimes. Looking at this small bird--one of the 'lower animals,' I had a senseof being hopelesslyand un- utterably earth-bound. SwarthmoreCollege Swarthmore,Pennsylvania ORIENTAL FORMS OF THE PYGMY WOODPECKER BY JAMES C. GREENWAY, JR. Tile gray-headedforms of the pygmyDryobates (D. canicapillus) of the easternAsiatic mainland form a complexanalogous to a super- species. The larger, darker birds inhabit China; the smaller and paler onesinhabit Burma,southern Siam, southern Annam and Cam- bodia. Within thesetwo larger groups,which cannot be indicated by our trinomialsystem, there are manygeographical races, all of which are more or lessill-defined, unsatisfactory forms. The Philippines, Sumatra and Borneo contain well differentiated insular subspecies. There are only five charactersto be used for racial diagnosis. They are: (1) size, (2) relativeamount of red on occiputof males, (3) rela- tive number and size of spotson the upper tail covertsand central rectrices,(4) relative sizeof spotson secondaries,(5) relative color tone of body plumage (either black or brownishblack above,with streaksbelow darker or paler). This last characteris subjectto marked seasonalvariations; birds taken in the monthsof April to Septemberare, in general,paler and browner than those taken betweenSeptember and May. But this seasonalvariation is much more apparentin the southernforms than in the northern. The situationdoes not appear to be confusedby any considerablepost-mortem change; the darkerforms of China have not become browner, less black, in museums. Birds of the year can be identified by the first primary, the outer web of which is not attenuatedat the tip. This feather is sometimes longer,but not alwaysso. They sometimeshave lesswell defined, rather darker, streaksbelow, but this characteris obscuredby seasonal variation, particularly in Malayan populations. The red occipital streakswhich distinguishmales appear in a nestlingspecimen. In Malaya and perhapsBorneo this gray-headedspecies (canica- pillus) breedsin the samelocalities as a considerablysmaller, brown- headedform (D. moluccensismoluccensis), which I considerto be a geographicalrepresentative of the small, brown-headedforms of the Indian plains (D. m. nanus,D. m. hardwickii,etc.). D. canicapillus Vol.•94• 60'] -• GREENWAY,Forms of PygmyWoodpecker 565 and D. nanusare thereforenot conspecific.In view of the fact that D. m. nanusof the Indian plains has a bare, crimsoncircumocular region whereasthe slightly darker forms of Malaya, Java, Sumatra and Borneohave this regionleathered, they may possiblybe consid- eredas distinct species. But in any caseI do not think that the gray- headedcanicapillus is conspecificwith either group. The applicationof namesto the brown forms is a task of some difficulty and doubt, partly becausethe types are no longer extant and partly becausethere has been considerableinaccuracy in their identification. It is still an openquestion as to whetheror not Picus moluccensisGmelin is identifiable. The plate in Daubenton's 'PlanchesEnlumin•es,' no. 748, is very inaccurate. It lacksthe white moustachialstreak common to the whole group and is spottedbelow rather than streaked. But, on the whole, it could scarcelybe any- thing but a female of this group, and though Stresemann(Arch. fiir Naturg., 87: 87, 1921) saysof it: "Diese Grundlagensind v611ig unzureichend,um eine sichereDeutung des GmelinschenNamens zu erm6glichen,"it would seemconsiderably simpler to acceptit. The type localityhas been restricted to Malaccaby Oberholser(Proc. Biol. Soc.Wash., 32: 7, 1919)and this restrictionis followedby Chasenin his 'Handlist of MalaysJanBirds': 145, 1935. Hargitt [Ibis (4) 6: 4•, 1882] indicatedthat he wasof the opinion that "Le Petit Pic des Moluques,"figured by Daubenton,on which Picusmoluccensis Gmelin was based,is the Javanesebird, and Riley (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 40: 140, 1927),following him, restrictedthe type locality of this race to Java. However, until someonecan find differencesto separate thesepopulations the questionis of no great moment. The theory that moluccensisand auritus are synonymousis inde- fensible,as I have pointed out below, for auritus is clearly described by Eyton as a gray-headedbird. Of late yearsit hasbeen the customto useDryobates nanus Vigors, 1831, as the specificname for the gray-headedforms (canicapillus). It is clear,nevertheless, that Vigorshad a brown-headedform before him for he says:"capiris [ronte verticiquebrunneis." He supposed that the bird camefrom the HimalayanMountains, but sinceno such form has sincebeen found there, it would appear to have been an error and it would be wiseto follow Stresemann(1. c.) who restricted the type localityto Cawnporein the plains. It is not possiblethat thesesmall brown birds are conspecificwith the large, gray-headed forms and thereforethe name hardwickii cannot be used,for it ap- pliesto a subspeciesof nanus. It is unfortunatethat Vigors'sname 566 GREENWAY,Forms of PygmyWoodpecker LI'Auk Oct. pygmaeus,which clearly applies to the gray-headedbird of the Hima- layas,is preoccupied. I am at presentunable to decidewhether the comparativelydistinct forms of the Philippines and those of Japan, which Hachisuka has lumped under the name moluccensis,are really conspecific. I have sincerelyto thank Dr. Ernst Mayr and the authorities of the American Museum oœNatural History, Mr. R. M. deSchauensee and the Academyof Natural Sciences,and Mr. H. G. Deignan and the authorities of the U.S. National Museum, for the loan of valuable material and their advice. Dryobatescanicapillus doerriesi (Hargitt) Iyngipicus doerriesi HARGITT,Ibis (4) 5: 398, 1881--AskoldId., Eastern Siberia. This race is to be distinguishedfrom all others by its large size. It differsfrom its neighbor,scintilliceps, in its averagelarger sizeand. in having the white area of the rump lessstreaked with black. RANGE.--Ussuri, Manchuria and Korea. MATER•ALEXAMINED.--2 8, 2 9--Korea: Seoul, Songdo, Keikido (Oct., Dec., Jan., Feb.). MEASUREMENTs.--Wing,8, 103, 106 mm.; 9, 105, 113; (av., 106.7). Tail, 8, 61; 9, 61, 68; (av., 64.7). Bill, 8, 20, 21; 9, 20, 22; (av., 20.7). Dryobatescanicapillus scintilliceps (Swinhoe) Picus scintillicepsSW•HOE, Ibis, 5: 96, 1863--Pekin, China. Yungipicuspygmaeus clementii LAToucI•E Bull. Brit. Orn. CI., 40: 51, 1919- Chang Yang Hsien, Hupeh. This race differs from nagamichiiLaTouche and obscurusLa- Touche in being somewhatpaler below with narrowerblack streaks. Y. clementii LaTouche was described as intermediate between birds of north China and those of southeasternChina, having the streaks of the under partsless heavy and the groundcolor of the under parts richer ochraceousbrown. Eighty per cent of the seasonallycom- parablebirds beforeme are, however,indistinguishable. RA•GE.--Chihli (Johol),Shantung, Kiangsu, and Chekiang. MATeaIAr.eXAMI•eD.--11 8, 8 9--Chihli: Iyankow; Kiangsu:Chin- kiang,Nanking; Shantung. 17 8,9 9--Hupeh: Ichang,.Chang Yang hsien (Jan., Feb., March, Oct., Dec.). Dryobates canicapillus nagamichii (LaTouche) Yungipicusscintilliceps nagamichii LATou½I•E, Bull. Brit. Orn. CI., 53: 22, 1932- New namefor Yungipicuss. kurodaiLaTouche, Birds East China: 22, 1931--Fukien; nec Dryobatesleucoto• kurodai GOTZ,1926. vol.1943 J CRNWA, Formsot ygmy Woodpecker 567 As might be expected,this raceis intermediatebetween scintilliceps and obscurus.It differs from the former in being more heavily streakedbelow as a rule. Only threespecimens in a seriesof eighteen are not separableby this character. From obscurusit appears to differ in having a well-developedwhite collar, continuous,as a rule, though usually interrupted in obscurus. Yen (Oiseau,Nouv. Set., 3: 625, 1933)synonymizes this race with omissusRothschild, a coursewhich seemsto me to be impossible. They differ by two characters.Omissus is darker and more heavily streakedbelow; the white nuchal collar is interruptedin omissus. M•Asvg•ws.--nagamichii: wing, •, 100-102; •, 100-106; (av., 101.6). Tail, •, 59; •, 60-61; (av., 59.7). "clementii" (Hupeh) •_•scintilliceps: wing, •, 95-104; •, 101-106; (av., 101.8). Tail, •, 51-60; •, 50-59; (av., 55.9). scintilliceps:wing, •, 97-102; •, 97-105; (av., 100.5). Tail, •, 54;-59; •, 50-59; (av., 55.8). R•a•.-Fukien; recordedby Yen (1.c.) from centraland western Yunnan, northern Kwangtungand "probably"southern Hunan and Kwangsi. Mt,,r•m•,•.•X•M•m): 4 •, 6 9--Fukien:Kuang Tien, Min River, ChingFeng Ling, Hsia Yang; Kuatun (April, Nov., Dec.). Dryobateseanieapillus kale•nsis (Swinhoe) Picus kaleO'nsisSwxpqI•O•, Ibis, 5: 390, 1863--Formosa. This race is closeto nagarnichiibut differsin havingthe lower backand rump moreheavily barred, which makes most specimens of nagarnichiiappear whiter. Seventy-nineper centare distinguish- ablein seriesby thischaracter. The wingand tail areslightly shorter. R•c•.--Island of Formosa(Taiwan). MATERIALEXAMINED.--6 •, 5 9--Formosa: Bankoro, Sharaishika, Tapposha,Schoschang (Feb., March, April, November). 2VI•stJm•szs.--Wing,•, 96-100; 9, 95-101; (av., 98). Tail, •, 54-58; •, 52-58; (av., 54). Bill, •, 19-21; 9, 21; (av., 20.8). Dryobatescanicapillus swinhoei (Harteft) lyngipicus scintillicepsswinhoei H^gx•gz, Novit. Zool., 17: 221, 1910--No-Tai, Hainan. This race is smaller than kale•nsisand tonkinensisbut is otherwise very closeto both. RA•c•.--Hainan Island. MAxem•,•EXAMINED.--5 •, 6 9 --Hainan Island:Lei Miu Mon, Mt. Wuchi, No-Tai, Tetsu. 568 GREENWAY,Forms o! PygmyWoodpecker L[Auk Oct. M•^SVR•M•NTs.--Wing,8, 92--96;
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