o/ ///e Genws Thriponax. 151 



MuUeripicus hodgsoni, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 284 (1862). 



Thriponax hodgsoni, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. p. 105 

 (1863); Hume, Str. F. 1876, p. 390, 1879, p. 87; Butler, 

 op. cit. 1880, p. 386 ; id. Cat. Birds Bomb. Pres. p. 23 (1880) ; 

 Davison, Str. F. 1883, x. p. 355. 



Campethera hodgsonii, Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 193. no. 8708 

 (1870). 



Adult male. Plumage black, Avith the following exceptions : — 

 the rump white ; breast and upper part of abdomen, as well 

 as the sides of the body, buffy white ; the feathers of the lower 

 part of the abdomen margined at the tip with buffy white ; 

 forehead, crown, occipital and nucbal crest, likewise the 

 malar stripe, crimson, the bases of the feathers of the occiput 

 and nape creamy white ; a few white streaks behind the ear- 

 coverts ; primaries with a concealed white spot at the base, 

 the secondaries having their basal portion white for an inch 

 to an inch and a half, at most, of their length; shafts of 

 quills and of tail feathers black ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries buffy white : " bill black ; legs dark plumbeous ; 

 irides crimson " [Jerdon). Total length 18*0 inches, culmen 

 2"6, wing 8"7, tail 7'2, tarsus 1-42; toes (without claws) — 

 outer anterior 1*0, outer posterior 08, inner anterior 0*8, 

 inner posterior 0'5. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in the absence 

 of red on the forehead, crown, and cheeks, the occipital and 

 nuchal feathers alone being crimson. Total length 17*5 

 inches, culmen 2'35, wing 8*55, tail Q-7 , tarsus 1'35, 



The habitat of this Woodpecker, so far as is at present 

 known, is the southern portion of India; but it is not certain 

 that it has not a more extended range, because Mr. Blyth, 

 under the heading of Picus leucogaster (J. A. S. B. 1842, 

 p. 464) , describes a bird, which he had received from Bengal, 

 as follows : — "Differs from hodgsoni in having only a narrow 

 and incomplete cross band of white on the rump.^^ 



Mr. Blyth suggests that this may be the Picus maximus 

 malayensis of Bland ; but the description given of the latter 

 bird agrees with Th. javensis, as there is no mention of a 

 white rump. What Mr. Blyth^s bird may be I cannot say — 



