THE YELLOW-FRONTED PIED WOODPECKER. 37 



432. PIOUS PUMILUS. 

 HARGITTS GREY-HEADED PIED WOODPECKER. 



lyngipicus pumilus, Hargitt, Ibis, 1881, p. 599; id. Ibis, 1882, p. 37. 



Description. Male. Similar to P. canicapillus , differing in being 

 smaller and in having the central four tail-feathers spotless black or with 

 merely one or two small white specks. 



Length about 5 inches, tail To, wing 2'8, bill from forehead '5 to '6. 



This small Woodpecker was described by Mr. Hargitt on my return to 

 England, and his description was based on two specimens procured at 

 Malewoon in Southern Tenasserim. My men secured in all six birds, and 

 these were of the same type and distinguishable at a glance from numerous 

 specimens of P. canicapillus which they also brought with them from the 

 same place. Of these six birds, one male and two females had the central 

 four tail-feathers absolutely spotless ; the others had either one or two 

 minute white spots on one or other of the four feathers. 



P. canicapillus, as it proceeds south, shows a tendency to acquire a 

 uniform black tail as regards the central feathers, but it shows no tendency 

 to become smaller in size ; and therefore the acquisition of six markedly 

 smaller birds at a place where full- sized P. canicapillus was also obtained 

 fully justifies Mr. Hargitt in separating the small bird from the large 

 one. 



This Woodpecker is not known with certainty as yet to occur elsewhere 

 than at Malewoon; but Mr. Hargitt suggests that the small Woodpeckers 

 referred to by Capt. Feilden (S. F. iii. p. 59) as occurring at Thayetmyo 

 may belong to this species. 



433. PICUS MAHRATTENSIS. 

 THE YELLOW-FRONTED PIED WOODPECKER. 



Picus mahrattensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supjrf. p. xxxi j Malh. Mon. Pic. i. p. 105, 

 pi. xxviii. fig. 1-3 ; Sundev. Consp. Av. Pic. p. 31 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 274 ; Hume, 

 Nests and Eggs, p. 122 j Ball, S. F. ii. p. 390; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 68 ; Legye, 

 Birds Ceylon, p. 184; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 87. Picus aurocristatus, Tick. 

 J.A.S. B. ii. p. 679. Picus blanfordi, Bl. J. A. S. B. xxxii. p. 75. Liopipo 

 xnahrattensis, Bl B. Burm. p, 78. 



Description. Male. Nasal plumes, forehead and anterior half of crown 

 dull straw-yellow ; posterior half of crown scarlet ; a patch of dark brown 

 on the nape ; sides of the head extremely pale yellow tinged with fulvous ; 

 sides of the nape white nearly meeting behind the brown nape-patch; 



