452 PICID^E. 



yellow ; lower back and rump shining carmine red ; upper tail coverts 

 and tail black ; primaries and their coverts blackish, 3 4 spots of white on 

 the inner webs of the primaries ; secondaries brown, barred with white on the 

 inner webs ; their outer margin golden yellow ; chin and throat white, with a 

 mesial black line ; the foreneck also white, the feathers edged with black ; rest 

 of lower plumage fulvous white, the feathers edged with black ; less numer- 

 ously black-edged on the lower abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts ; under 

 wing coverts white, barred with black. The female has the crimson head of 

 the male replaced by black, spotted with white. Bill, bluish brown, or slaty ; 

 irides buffish yellow ; legs greenish blue. 



Length. 12-5 to pinches; wing 5-9 to 7-3 ; tail 4*5 to 4-8; tarsus 1*2 ; 

 bill from gape 2 to 2-2. 



Hab. Nearly throughout the whole continent of India, in suitable localities, 

 north, north-west, south, and east. In the Himalayas it reaches to Nepaul and 

 southward through Assam, Sikkim, to the Indo-Burmese Countries, the Malay 

 Peninsula, Siam, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. It is recorded 

 from Malabar, the Neilgherries, Central aud South India, Sikkim and Nepaul. 

 In Burmah, except on the higher mountains, it is said to be found over every 

 portion, affecting alike dense forests and clearings. Breeds on the Neilgherries 

 at elevations of from 5,500 to 7,000 feet in December, January, and February. 

 Eggs, one only, pure white and glossy. 



1086. ChrySOCOlapteS festiVUS (Bodd^ Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 

 xiv., Supplement, No. 167 ; Hume, Sir. F. i. p. 373 ; vii. p. 206. Chrysocolap- 

 tes melanotus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii. p. 1005. Picus goensis, Gmel., Syst. 

 Nat. i. p. . Chrysocolaptes goensis, Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 282, No. 167. 

 The BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Forehead black, speckled with white ; crown and occiput crimson ; lores, 

 streak behind the eye to the nape, hind neck and interscapulars white ; another 

 black streak from the eye down the sides of the neck ; back, scapulars, rump 

 and tail black, tinged with aureous on the scapulars ; wing coverts and second- 

 aries bright golden yellow ; primaries and their coverts dusky black, the 

 primaries with large roundish spots ; chin and throat white, with three black 

 stripes ; rest of under surface of the body white, more or less streaked with 

 black, which disappear on the abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts. Bill 

 dusky blackish ; legs and feet horny plumbeous ; irides crimson. 



Length. 12-5 to 13 inches ; tail 3-5 ; wing 6-25 ; bill at front 1-9 to 2. 



Hab. Southern and Central India and the Southern Mahratta Country. 

 Jerdon says he found it in the jungles of the eastern ghauts, in parts of 

 Mysore, between Bangalore and the Neilgherries, in the Vindhyan mountains 

 near Mhow, and in the hilly and jungly districts of Nagpore, between that and 

 the Nerbudda ; also in the Midnapore jungles. 



