GECIXUS. 2o 



i)52. Gecinus chlorogaster. TIte Soutli-Indian Yelloiv-naped 

 Woodjjeclcer. 



Brachylophus meiitalis, a])iul Jcrdouj Madr. Jour. L. S. xi, p. :21Jr 



(1840), wee Picas meutulis, Temm. 

 Picus chlorigaster, Jprdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xiii, -pt. 2, p. 139 



(1844). 

 Picus (Chloropicus) xanthoderus, Malherbe,Itei\ Zool. 184o, p. 402. 

 Gecinus chlorigaster, Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 16; Hargitt, Ibis, 



1888, p. 180 ; id. Cut. 'B. M. xviii, p. 62. 

 Gecinus chloroplianes, Blyth, Cat. p. oQ ; Laijard, A. M. N. H. (2) 



xiii, p. 448 (1854). 

 Chrvsoplilegma cliloro])Iianes, Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 290 ; Holdsworth, 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 428 ; Le(/ge, Ibis, 1874, p. 15, 1875, p. 283 ; 



Bourdillon, S. F. iv, p. 390. 

 Chrysoplilegma xanthuderus, Lci/ae, Birds Ceijl. p. 197. 

 Chrvsoplilegma chlorigaster, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 517 ; id. Caf.no. 175 ; 



Butler, S. F. ix, p. 386 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 298 ; Davison, ibid. 



p. 355; Taylor, ibid. p. 457 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 117. 



The Southern Yellow-naped Woodpecker, Jerdon ; Pachcha karalla, 

 Cingalese. 



Coloration. Male. Xasal plumes brownish black ; forehead, 

 crown, occiput (feathers elongated), and malar stripe crimson, only 

 the tips of the feathers red and the dusky bases conspicuous ; 

 nuchal crest yellow, the feathers loose-textured ; back, scapulars, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts green ; wing-coverts yellow bronze- 

 green, tinged with red towards the shafts ; quills brownish black, 

 the inner webs, except near the tips, with round white spots : 

 outer webs of primaries near base and of secondaries throughout 

 red, bordered with bronze-green, a few small white spots on outer 

 webs of primaries ; tail black or brownish black ; lores whitish ; 

 sides of head and neck and all lower parts dull olive, spotted or 

 barred with. Mhite on the chin, throat, and abdomen, or in the 

 young almost throughout, but generally the breast is unspotted. 



Female. Forehead and crown dark olive, the occiput alone bemg 

 crimson, and there is no malar stripe ; otherwise as in the male. 



Bill slaty greenish, yellow beneath ; legs dull green ; irides 

 reddish brown (Jerdon). 



Length 9-5 ; tail 3-25 (varying from 2-9 to 5-5) ; wing 4-65 ; 

 tarsus "85 ; bill from gape 1"05. 



Distribution. The hills in the neighbourhood of the Western 

 coast of India as far north as Khandesh, also in the greater part 

 of Ceylon. This "Woodpecker is not found above 5000 feet on the 

 Mlgiris. It occurs in the AVynaad and Mysore, but not to the 

 eastward. 



Habits, Sfc. This bird has a plaintive call, which it frequently 

 utters when perched on the upper branch of a high tree. It 

 often, like other Gecini, feeds on fallen trees on the ground, 

 and according to Layard breaks into dried cowdung in search of 

 insects. Legge found ants besides coleoptera in the stomach of 

 those he examined. 



