440 Mr. E. Hargitt on the Woodpeckers 



whole of the crown dark sepia-brown ^ and the occiput and 

 nape black ; moustachial stripe black ; the upper parts 

 blacker^ with whiter barring ; wing-coverts blackish brown, 

 spotted and tipped with pure white ; the outer webs of the 

 quills less olive_, and the underparts rather whiter ; " bill 

 black; legs dark green; iris dark red^^ (7'. E. Buckley). 

 Total length 6-0 inches, culmen 073, wing 3-6, tail 1-8, 

 tarsus 065. 



For further description of the soft parts, see Mr. Ayres's 

 notes in ' The Ibis,' 1879, p. 298. 



The present species is one of several South- African birds 

 which were described by Sonnerat as from the Philippine 

 Islands ; but there is little doubt that his " Pic Cardinal de 

 risle de Lu(^on^' is the same bird as that subsequently de- 

 scribed by Lichtenstein as Picus fulviscapus and by Vieillot 

 as Picus fuscescens. Although he speaks of the bird as 

 being of the size of the '' Pic vcrt,^' it is evident that he 

 refers to Mesopicus griseocephulus, which is figured on plate 

 xxxvi. of his book, under the name of " Le Pic vert de Fisle 

 de Luc^-on,'' and not to Gecinus viridis, to which he refers 

 pointedly further on as the '' Pic vert d'Europe/' when he 

 is speaking of "^Le Grand Pic de Tisle do Lucou." At the 

 same time there is evidently some confusion in the writer's 

 mind about the sizes of these three Lucjon Woodpeckers, as 

 D. cardinalis is certainly not larger than M. griseocephalus, 

 and Sonnerat's own plate represents the latter as larger than 

 D. cardinalis. 



The list of specimens examined by me is a large one, 

 as, besides those in my own collection, I have compared 

 the series in the British Museum and in Capt. Shelley's col- 

 lection ; and I can trace the species from various parts of the 

 Cape Colony, throughout Natal, Zulu Laud, and the Transvaal 

 as well as the Matabele country to the Zambesi, while on the 

 west coast it is found from Great Namaqua Land to Benguela. 

 The Cape form, which I consider the typical D. cardinalis, 

 extends to the Transvaal without any apparent variation ; but 

 a slightly paler form appears to be found on the confines of 

 the Zambesi, while in Damara Land and Benguela the bird. 



