202 SPOLJA ZEYLANICA. 
LiopicuS MAHRATTENSIS (Blanford, Vol. IIT., p. 43; 
Legge, p. 184). 
The Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker. 
Description.—Male : Forehead and front of crown shining 
straw colour, remainder of crown with the crest pale crimson ; 
nape and hind-neck smoky brown ; back and scapulars white, 
much mixed with black ; wing coverts, wing quills, and tail 
black, largely spotted or barred with white ; rump and upper 
tail coverts white, the latter with broad arrow-shaped black 
markings. Sides of face, chin, throat, and fore-neck white ; 
a broad brown stripe runs from below the ear coverts down, the 
sides of the breast ; remainder of lower parts white streaked 
with brown, the centre of the abdomen being stained with 
crimson. 
Female : The whole of the top of the head, including the 
crest, straw yellow. 
Bill dusky bluish, darker on the ridge and at the tip ; iris 
deep red ; legs and feet lead colour. 
Length 7; wing 3°80; tail 2°5; tarsus -7; bill from gape 
1°05. 
Distribution —This little Woodpecker is nowhere very 
common. Its chief haunts are in the Mannar and Jaffna 
Districts. Thence it appears to have worked its way east and 
south, as it occurs in the Eastern Province and parts of the 
Hambantota District, and on the patanas in the drier parts of 
Uva and the Central Province. It is found in India in suitable 
places here and there throughout the peninsula, in the valleys 
at the base of the Western Himalayas, and the drier parts of 
Upper Burma. 
Habits, &c.—This species haunts low jungle and scrub, being 
especially fond of Euphorbia trees. The note is a weak trill. 
I have known it to breed in, the Mannar District in May, and 
near Hambantota in July. The nest is a small hole in the 
stem or branch of a decaying tree. 
The three white eggs average about *87 by °68. 
Note.—Dendrocopus macii (The Fulvous-breasted Pied 
Woodpecker) is said by Kelaart to have occurred in Ceylon, 
