208 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
nest in which there were two young ones, and again found a 
single young bird in September. 
The birds thus seem to have two broods and to lay from 
one to three eggs. 
The single egg in my collection is rather elongated, measur- 
ing 1°25 by °88. ‘The texture almost exactly resembles that 
of celluloid. 
CHRYSOCOLAPTES STRICKLANDI (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 67 ; 
Legge, p. 188). 
Layard’s Woodpecker. 
Description.—Male : Forehead dark brown ; crown and crest 
crimson ; hind-neck blackish with large white spots ; back, 
rump, wing coverts, and outer webs of secondaries crimson, 
the colour being brightest cn the rump ; primaries and inner 
webs of secondaries blackish-brown with white spots; tail 
coverts and tail black. A row of white spots passes from 
behind the eye above the ear coverts to the hind-neck; cheeks 
and sides of head and neck blackish-brown. The jaws, chin, 
throat, and upper fore-neck are white, at times tinged with 
buff, with five black longitudinal stripes. The feathers of 
the breast and lower fore-neck are white with broad black 
borders, giving a scaly appearance; remainder of lower parts 
more streaky black and white; under tail coverts barred black 
and white. 
Female : The whole of the top of the head above the eyes, 
together with the nape and hind-neck, are black with white 
spots ; the hindmost under tail coverts are dark brown. 
Bill mainly greenish-white, darker at the base ; iris yellowish- 
white ; legs and feet greenish-slate colour. 
Length about 11°5; wing 5°15; tail 3°5; tarsus 1°05; 
bill from gape 2. 
Distribution.—Peculiar to Ceylon; found practically all over 
the Island in suitable forest country, but never so abundant 
as the two species of Brachypternus. 
Habits, &c.—A bird usually found in tall forest ; in wilder 
districts it occasionally visits large trees in gardens. The 
flight is more rapid than that of the common Red-backed 
Woodpecker, and the note is a thin shrill trill. 
