of the Ethiopian Region. 423 



angle of the lower mandible a blackish moustachial stripe 

 running onto the chest, the feathers being tipped with white ; 

 from the fore neck to the under tail-coverts, inclusive, dusky 

 olive spotted with white, the spotting on the under tail- 

 coverts being very obscure ; under surface of the tail black ; 

 shafts brown ; under wing-coverts dusky olive, varied with 

 white ; underside of Aving-shafts pale brown. 



This species has hitherto been considered to be the young 

 of Dendropicus africanus (Grray) ; but the latter bird is 

 described as having a red crest and a red rump, which 

 render it impossible to reconcile it with any stage of plu- 

 mage of M. xantholophus . I am not acquainted with any 

 Woodpecker which, having a red rump in the adult, would 

 not have some indication of it in the younger stage. So far 

 as is known, the habitat of this species is restricted to 

 Gaboon, and the types are in the British Museum. 



3. Dendropicus. Type. 



Dendrobates, Swains. Classif, B. ii. p. 306 



(1837, nee Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amer. 



p. 301, 1831) D. cardinalis. 



Dendropicos, Malh. Rev. Zool. 1849, p. 533 D. cardincdis. 

 Pardipicus, Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zygod. p. 9 



(1854) D. gabonensis. 



Ipoctonus, Heine, J. f. O. 18G0, p. 191 (nom. 



emend, pro Dendropicus). 

 Ipophilus, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. 



p. 113 (1863) D. obsoletus. 



Ipopatis, iid. t. c. p. 129 D. gabonensis. 



The fixing of the proper generic term for these Wood- 

 peckers has been a sore puzzle to me. Nearly every author 

 seems to have changed his opinion on the subject, and some 

 of them more than once. Dendrobates of Swainson cannot 

 be used, as his original type was the Brazilian D. affinis, 

 and to that type his name must be held, though six years 

 later he indicated D. cardinalis as the type. Malherbe first 

 mentioned Dendropicos in 1849, when he described D. hart- 



