26 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Genus SASIA, Hodgs. 



422, SASIA OCHRACEA. 

 THE RUFOUS PICULET. 



Sasia ochracea, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. v. p. 778 ; Jerd. B. 2nd. i. p. 301 ; Hume, S. F. 

 iii. p. 75 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 78 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 148 ; Hume, S. F. viii. 

 p. 88 ; Hargitt, Ibis, 1881, p. 231. Picumnoides ochraceus, Malh. Mon. Pic. 

 ii. p. 287. Picumnoides lachrymosa (Lafr.}, Malh. Mon. Pic. ii. p. 287. 

 Picumnus ochraceus, Sundev. Consp. Av. Pic. p. 106. 



Description. Male. Forehead golden yellow ; crown and nape olive ; 

 back and scapulars olive-rufous ; rump brighter and tinged with orange ; 

 upper tail- coverts and tail black ; upper wing-coverts olive ; quills dark 

 brown edged with olive,, the tertiaries tinged with the colour of the back, 

 the first primary edged with whitish ; lores and feathers round the eye 

 dusky ; a stripe from the eye over the ear-coverts white ; sides of the head 

 and the whole lower plumage orange-rufous ; under wing-coverts yellowish 

 white. 



The female differs in having the forehead orange-rufous, not golden 

 yellow. 



The young are generally like the adults, but the colours are dingy. 



Upper mandible dark brown, lower plumbeous; mouth dusky; eyelids 

 and ophthalmic skin dusky red ; iris crimson ; legs yellowish red. 



Length 3*2 inches, tail 1, wing 2, tarsus *5, bill from gape '52. The 

 female is of the same size. 



S. abnormis, from the Malay peninsula and islands, differs chiefly in 

 wanting the eye -streak. 



I procured the Rufous Piculet in the evergreen forests of the Pegu hills, 

 and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay met with it on the Tonghoo hills. Mr. Davison 

 observed it in all parts of Tenasserim except on the higher hills. Mr. 

 Blyth notes it from Arrakan. 



It occurs in Cachar and the Khasia hills and ranges in the Himalayas 

 from Assam to Nipal. 



This tiny Woodpecker is found in forests climbing about bamboos and 

 smaller trees and brushwood, and were it not for the loud tapping it makes 

 it would seldom be noticed. It is said to breed in holes of trees, which is 

 extremely probable, and it may safely be predicted that its eggs will 

 prove to be white. 



