20 piciMi:. 



In young birds the upper plumage is dusky, the feathers being" 

 edged \Aith green, and the breast-feathers bear scale-like mark& 

 like those of the abdomen. 



Iris a circle of darkish pinkish red surrounded by a second ring 

 of light pink ; upper mandible horn-coloured at the base, the tip 

 and the whole lower mandible brightish yellow (Beavan) • legs 

 gi'eenish plumbeous {Jerdon). 



Length 14 ; tail 5"3 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from gape 1'9, 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Grilgit and Kashmir to 

 Kumaun and probably Western Nepal, at elevations from about 

 oOOO to 9000 feet. A skin was obtained in Afghanislan bv 

 Griffith. 



Habits, ^"c. This Woodpecker is often seen feeding on the ground. 

 It lays generally five, sometimes six eggs in a hole excavated in the 

 stem of a tree, in March, April, or May. The eggs are white and 

 \ery glossy, and measure on an average 1*28 by '93. The nest- 

 hole is generally placed at a considerable height from the ground, 

 as a rule more than 20 feet. 



947. Gecinus gorii. Hargitt's iScah/-beUied Green Woodpecker. 



Gecinus gorii, Haryitt, Ibis, 1887, p. 75, 1888, p. 159 ; id. Cat. B. 

 M. xviii, p. 45 ; St. John, Ihis, 1889, p. 158 ; Aitchison, Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v, p. 8-3, pi. vi, fig. 1 . 



This is paler throughout than G. squamatus, but otherwise very 

 similar. The pale spots and bars on the wing- and tail-feathers 

 are larger, the pale bars on the tail-feathers and the white spots on 

 the outer webs of the primaries being broader than the dark 

 interspaces ; the scale-like markings on the abdomen are narrower 

 and fainter. Dimensions the same. 



Distribution. South Afghanistan. Only known from two speci- 

 mens, one from Quetta, the other from the Helmand River. Sir 

 O. B. St. John saw G. gorii on the Kwaja Amran hills, and 

 probably in the juniper forests of Ziarat. 



I suspect that this is merely a pale variety of G. squamatus. 



948. Gecinus striolatus. Tlie Little Scaly -bellied Green 

 Woodpeclcer. 



Pious striolatus, Blijth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 1000 (1843) ; Jerdrm, Mad. 

 Jour. L. S. xiii, pt. 2, p. 138. 



Gecinus striolatus, BlytJt, Cat. p. 57 ; Horsf. 8) M. Cat. ii, p. 6G(J ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 287 ; Stoliczha, J. A. >S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 21 : 

 Blanf. Ibis, 1870, p. 404 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 9 ; Lpr/ge, >S. F. i, 

 p. 488; id. Birds Ceyl. p. 194 ; Ball, S. F. ii, p. 391 ; v, p. 413 ; vii, 

 p. 206; Bhjth ^- Wald. Birds Burm. ]). 76 ; Hume ^- Gates, S. F. 

 iii, p. 68 ; Butler, *S'. F. iii, p. 458 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A . S. B. xlv, 

 pt. 2, p. 70 ; xlvii, pt. 2, p. 14 ; Inglis, S. F. \, p. 26 ; Fairbank, 

 iS. F. V, p. 396 ; Anderson, Yunnan Exjoed., Aves, p. 585 ; Cripps, 

 S. F. vii, p. 262 ; Hu7ne, Cat. no. 171 ; Sculli/, S. F. viii, p. 247 ; 



