454 Mr. E. Hargitt on the Woodpeckers 



scarlet, tlie tips of the feathers being of this colour^ next to 

 which is a black bar or patch, the bases being dark leaden 

 grey ; there is also the stage in which the light under surface 

 of the body, including the chin, throat, and sides of the face 

 are buff, the forehead, crown, and crest scarlet, the bases of 

 the feathers light leaden grey, and no black bar or patch be- 

 tween these colours ; then the more fully adult male, in which 

 the crown and crest are the same as in the last mentioned, 

 but the under surface of the body is washed with very pale 

 golden yellow ; the malar stripe in the male is scarlet in all 

 stages. The young female has the forehead and crown black, 

 with a few most minute white specks on the forehead ; the 

 crest scarlet ; the minute spots of white increase a little in size 

 and cover the forehead and crown ; they are not larger than 

 pin-points. The birds in this stage have, however, a few scarlet 

 feathers on the crown (one specimen examined having a trace 

 of red on the malar stripe), and the crests are of a washed-out 

 scarlet. There is another stage in which the forehead and 

 crown are covered with white spots differing much in form ; 

 there is the large terminal spot, as in the fully adult female ; 

 also others, small and elongated, widening near the tip ; the 

 crest scarlet. After this comes the fully adult, the forehead 

 and crown being covered with large spots of white ; the crest 

 scarlet. The malar stripe in the female is black, spotted with 

 white. 



According to the observations of Heuglin and other tra- 

 vellers in North-east Africa the present species appears to 

 be very commonly distributed over that portion of the 

 Ethiopian Region, from Southern Nubia and the Egyptian 

 Soudan as far south as the Somali country. 



Malherbe, in his Monograph, illustrates this species upon 

 plate xciii. figs. 2-5. The bird said to be a young male 

 (fig. 4) is certainly not C. nubica ; the figure appears to be 

 taken from a specimen of C. abingoni, and is altogether 

 unsatisfactory. The same author also figures upon plate 

 xciv. three birds, under the heading of C/irysopicus cethiopicus 

 (Riipp.), which are intended to represent C. nubica (vide 

 errata); the figure of the male is possibly taken from a specimen 

 of C. nubica, but figs. 2 and 3 correspond with C cailliaudi. 



