306 ric'iD^. 



eggs \A'as taken from a hole in an ' Asun' tree (Tenninalia alata), 

 and brought to me at Baramiissia on the 5th Mai'ch. There was 

 no nest. The eggs are slightly elongated, 0'75 inch long by rather 

 more than 0-62 inch broad." 



Tliese eggs were probably not carefully measured with calipers, 

 the dimensions given being abnormally small. 



Messrs. Davidson and AV'euden, writing of the Deccan, remarli : — 

 " Commonest in suitable localities, and certainly breeds.'" 



Mr. Benjamin Aitken says :— " On the 26th May, 1873, I was 

 much surprised to see a pair of these common little Woodpeckers 

 evidently at liome on the slope of the hill of Singurli, near Poona, 

 and over 4000 feet in elevation. The hill-side was utterly scorched 

 up, there being nothing with leaves, and no tree over 8 feet in 

 height nearer than the plain below. The birds were flitting about 

 the cactuses and other leafless stunted bushes which formed all the 

 remains of the previous year's vegetation." 



Colonel E. A. Butler notes : — " I received an egg from Mr. J. 

 Davidson taken in Khandesh, 29th February, 1881." 



The eggs are glossy white, and in shape a rather lengthened 

 oval. When fresh and unblown they have a delicate pink shade, 

 due to the partial transparency of the shell. This is common to 

 a great majority of tlie birds of this family. In size they differ 

 little from those of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker of Europe, but 

 they are less spherical than those eggs usually are, and though 

 sometimes fully as long or even longer, are never, I think', nearly 

 as broad. 



In length they vary from 0-82 to 0-95 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0-63 to 0'7 inch ; but the average of a large series is 0-87 by 

 0-68 inch. 



lyngipicus pygmseus (Vig.). TJie Himalayan I'ujuij 

 WoodpecJcer. 



YuMgipicus py«^mfeus (Jiff.), Jcrd. B. hid. i, p. 277 ; Hume, lioKtjk 

 Draft N. ^- E. uo. 1G3. 



1 know nothing personally of the nidification of the Himalayan 

 Pigmy Woodpecker. 



Mr. 1{. Thompson tells me tliat " it lays in April and May, in 

 holes of trees, in the dense forest districts of the Bhabur and the 

 lower Kumaon Valleys. The young birds are able to fly in June ; 

 four to five in number usually to each old couple. The birds 

 migrate into cultivated districts in the winter." 



I3mgipicus hardwickii (Jerd.). The Indian Piymy Woodjurl-er. 



Yiiiigii)icu.s liardwickii [Jerd.), Jcrd. B. Ind. i, p. 178. 

 Yuiigipicus nanus ( J'///.), Ihnne, Jlovffh Draft A. i.y E. nn. 164. 



Coiinnon as the Indian Pigmy Woodi)ecker is in the plains of 

 Upper India, 1 have only once seen a nest, and have uc\er uiyself 



