60 PICID.E. 



trees, and especially in mango-groves. It is also found in thin 

 forest, and in Sind in tamarisk-serub, and feeds much on ants ; it 

 is a bold noisy bird with a loud screaming call, often uttered on the 

 wing. It breeds in Northern India in March and April, and again 

 in June and July, in Ceylon from February till June ; the eggs, 

 three in number as a rule, being often laid in Northern India in a 

 hole in a mango-tree. The eggs are white and glossy, and measure 

 about 1-11 by •&. 



987. Brachypternus erythronotiis. The Red-hacked Woodpecker. 



Picus erithronothos, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvi, p. 73 



(1818). 

 Picus ceylonus, Ciiv. Hegne Anhn. ed. 2", i, p. 451 (1829). 

 Brachypternus erythronotus, Strickland, P. Z. S. 1841, p. 31 ; Har(/itt, 



Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 409 ; Oates, in Humes N. ^- E. 2nA. ed. ii, 



p. 311. 

 Brachypternus cevlonus, Blyth, Cat. p. -56 ; Lai/ard,A. M. N. H. (2) 



xiii, p. 449 (18;j4) ; Horsf. S,- M. Cat. ii, p. 656 ; Bh/th, Ibis, 18G7, 



p. 297 ; Holdstcorth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 428 ; Hiane, Cat. no. 182 bis ; 



Leyge, Birds Cexjl. p. 202, pi. viii. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown black, the feathers 

 tipped crimson ; occipital crest crimson, feathers more or less 

 white-shafted ; sides of head black, with two huffy-white stripes, 

 one from above the eye over the ear-coverts, the other from the 

 base of the upper mandible below the eye and ear-coverts down 

 the side of the neck ; supraorbital, upper loral, and malar regions 

 spotted white, ear-coverts streaked with white ; back of neck antl 

 uppermost part of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts black, the 

 rump-feathers edged with crimson ; back and scapulars bright 

 crimson like the crest ; coverts and outer webs of secondaries 

 duller crimson ; generally several of the outer greater coverts and 

 a few median coverts each with a subterminal pinkish-white spot ; 

 both webs of primary quills and inner webs of secondaries black 

 with white spots, except near the tips ; tail black ; chin and 

 middle of throat like malar region black with apical white spots, 

 and generally with the base of the feathers white, sides of throat 

 entirely black ; rest of lower parts white, often sullied, the feathers 

 with black edges, which are so broad on the breast as to pre- 

 dominate, the w hite being frequently reduced to large spots ; 

 flanks, thighs, and lower tail-coverts more or less barred with black. 



Female, Forehead and crown black, with small white apical 

 spots ; occipital crest alone crimson. 



Bill blackish, base and sides of under mandible leaden ; iris red ; 

 legs and feet murky greenish, olivaceous green, or dusky sap-green 

 {Legge). 



Length about 11*5 inches; tail 3*7o; wing 5-4; tarsus -95; 

 bill from gape l"o. 



Distribution. Peculiar to Ceylon, found almost throughout the 

 island up to 3.5(»0 or 4000 feet elevation. 



Habits, 4'c. Very similar to those of B. aurantiiis. According to 



