DENDBOCOPUS. 33 



pair black with fulvous-white spots on the outer webs ; the two 

 outer large feathers on each side barred black and fulvous white ; 

 sides of neck and lower parts from throat bright chestnut ; vent 

 and lower tail-coverts light crimson ; thigh-coverts and undei" 

 wing-coverts banded black and white ; axillaries white. 



Female. The crown and nape black, spotted with white, lu 

 young birds there are bars on the lower plumage. 



Bill black above, whitish beneath ; legs plumbeous (Jerdoa). 

 Bill pale yellow beneath (Godwin- Austen). 



Length 8 ; tail 3-5 ; wing 5 ; tarsus 0-85 ; bill from gape 1, 

 Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Murree to Sikhim 

 and probably to Eastern Tibet, also in the Khasi, Nclga, and Manipur 

 hills, at 4000 to 5000 feet elevation. This Woodpecker has been 

 obtained in Cochin China, but not in Burma. It ranges to a con- 

 siderable elevation on the Himalayas, and is the commonest 

 Woodpecker in the pine-forests of Sikhim, at 9000-12,000 feet 

 iibove the sea. 



Habits, ^0. The nest has been observed by Col. C, H. T, Marshall 

 at Murree, and the eggs taJten towards the latter end of April. 

 The nests were as usual mere holes in trees, and the eo-o-s, de- 

 posited on the bare wood, were regular ovals, pure white, measurino- 

 about -87 by -67. ' "" 



Genus DENDROCOPUS, Koch, 1816. 



Bill wedge-shaped, upper mandible compressed towards the end ; 

 culmen angulate, straight or very slightly curved, nasal ridge com- 

 mencing halfway between culmen and commissure and extending 

 more than half the length of the bill ; nostrils concealed by plumes, 

 chin-angle similarly concealed ; gonys sharply angulate ; fourth 

 (outer hind) toe longer than third (outer fore) ; occiput slightly 

 crested, more in some species than in others ; wing rather pointed, 

 the primaries exceeding the secondaries by about the length of the 

 culmen. Upper plumage black and white, more or less in bars ; 

 lower plumage white or fulvous, generally streaked brown or black. 

 Cro^vn and occiput wholly or partly red in males, black or brown in 

 females. 



A large genus, of which the type is the European Picus major, 

 and which ranges over almost the whole of Europe, Asia, and 

 North America. Ten species occur within Indian limits. 



Key to the Species, 



a. Middle tail-feathers entirely black, outer 

 barred white. 

 a'. Back entirely black. 



a". Lower parts not striated. 

 a^. Scapulars black. 



a*. Under tail-coverts red, not ab- 

 domen ; crown red in <5" , black 

 ill ? I>. himalayensis, p. 34. 



VOL. III. jj 



