48-4 Mr. E. Hargitt on the Woodpeckers 



in colour, and having the occiput of the same uniform olive- 

 brown as the crown. Total length 6*5 inches, culmen 0"8, 

 wing 3*55, tail I'S, tarsus 7. 



Sundevall suggests that the name nivosus of Swainson 

 should be rejected for this species, on account of its inappli- 

 cability to the bird itself; but the name has been so com- 

 monly employed by ornithologists, and is so well known, 

 that it seems a pity to reject it. The title is certainly not 

 well chosen ; for there is nothing snow-white about the bird's 

 plumage, although Swainson may have met with a bleached 

 specimen, as he lays stress upon the under surface being 

 covered " with round white spots."' I have, however, 

 never met with a specimen in which the spotting of the 

 under surface of the body was white enough to justify the 

 epithet of " nivosus,^' and the type specimen unfortunately 

 does not seem to have passed into the Cambridge Museum. 



The present species seems to have a wide range in West 

 Africa, as it is recorded from Casamanze by Dr. Hartlaub, 

 occurs plentifully in collections from the Gold Coast, was 

 obtained by Crossley in Cameroons, by Duchaillu in Gaboon, 

 and even reaches to the Congo region, as I am unable 

 to separate D. congicus of Bocagc from C. tiivosa, having, 

 through the great kindness of Professor Barboza du Bocage, 

 examined the type specimens of his Dendrobates congicus 

 from the river Luema, Loango, but failing to see any reason 

 why it should be separated from C. 7iivosa. Professor Bocage 

 does not appear to have seen that the latter bird (the female 

 type specimen of his D. congicus) is unmistakably a young bird, 

 the bar-like appearance of the spotting on the underparts, 

 which that author gives as a specific character in his diagnosis, 

 being a distinguishing mark of the young in this as w ell as in 

 many other species. 



An average measurement of a series of specimens shows 

 the female to be larger than the male. 



1 have thought it best to add to this essay a Table showing 

 the Geographical Distribution of African Woodpeckers ; and I 

 have selected as my model Mr. Sharpens Table of localities 



