474 Mr. E, Hargitt on the Woodpeckers 



cept the abdomen, having longitudinal black spots, these 

 being narrower on the breast, and somewhat heart-shaped on 

 the flanks and thighs ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 white, the former varied with and having bar-like spots of 

 dusky brown ; under surface of quill- shafts almost pure 

 white ; under surface of the tail slightly washed with yellow, 

 the shafts being yellowish white. Total length 7"8 inches, 

 culinen 1'03, wing 4*28, tail 2"5, tarsus 0*75 ; toes (without 

 claws) — outer anterior 0"G6, outer posterior 0*6, inner ante- 

 rior 0*53, inner posterior 0'28. 



The young female above described being Swainson^s type, 

 it seemed desirable to give as complete a description as 

 possible. 



Having, by the kind permission of Mr. Salvin, examined 

 Swainson^s types of this species, 1 think there can be no doubt 

 as to their belonging to the South- African bird. Swainson 

 describes the female as " having no white spots on the crown," 

 and at first sight this would appear to be the case ; but upon 

 a closer examination a few very minute white spots are to be 

 observed upon the forehead and the outer edge of the fore 

 part of the crown. It is, without doubt, a very young bird. 

 The male described by Swainson is an older bird than the 

 female, still not fully adult, as will be seen by the spotting 

 on the breast and sides of the body, which approaches more 

 to the young female. In fully adult birds these black mark- 

 ings on the breast and sides of the body lose their spotted 

 character and become distinctly striated, the abdomen, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts, however, still retaining their spots. 



The late Mr. Cassin described a specimen in the Phila- 

 delphia Museum under the name of lineata, but he doubted, 

 at the time, whether the differences between it and C. abin- 

 goni were more than those which indicated a fully mature 

 bird ', there can be no doubt that this is the correct view of 

 the case. 



Mr. Sharpe, in his edition of Layard, was the first person, 

 as far as I am aware, to throw doubts upon the West- 

 African origin of Swainson^s specimens of C. chrysura, to 

 establish their identity with C. abingoni of Smith, and to 



