52 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



446. GKECINUS EKYTHROPYGIUS. 



THE RED-RUMPED GREEN WOODPECKER. 



Gecinus erythropygius, Elliot, Nouv. Arch. i. Bull. p. 76, pi. iii. ; Oates, S. F. x. 

 p. 191. Gecinus erythropygius, Wardlaw Ramsay, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 212, 

 pi. xxxv. (descr. orig.). Gecinus nigrigenis, Hume, Proc. A. S. B. 1874, 

 p. 106 ; Hume, 8. F. ii. pp. 444, 471 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 136 ; Hume, 

 S. F. viii. p. 87 ; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 163. 



Description. Male. Forehead, lores, the feathers round the eyes, cheeks, 

 ear-coverts and nape black ; crown crimson ; back, wing- coverts, and upper 

 tail- coverts bright yellowish green ; rump fiery red ; tail black, washed 

 with green on the edges near the base ; wings black ; the primaries with 

 white bars on the outer webs ; all the quills except the last tertiary or two 

 with broad white bars on the inner webs ; the secondaries with the greater 

 portion of the outer webs green ; the tertiaries with the outer webs and a 

 broad tip green ; chin, throat, fore neck, sides of the neck and breast deep 

 yellow ; remainder of the lower plumage ashy brown, with irregular cross 

 bars of greenish brown. 



The female differs only in wanting the crimson on the crown, the 

 whole of which is black. 



Young males have the red on the head very dull and small in extent. 

 Bill dark horny ; irides sulphur-yellow ; legs and feet dark green ; claws 

 horny. (Bingham.) 



Length 13 inches, tail 5-2, wing 6'3, tarsus T2, bill from gape I 1 7. The 

 female is of about the same size. 



Some few birds, both males and females, have a narrow yellow line from 

 the eye over the ear-coverts ; these seem to me to constitute a distinct 

 species, for the Woodpeckers of this genus are not, as far as I know, liable 

 to such variations of plumage. I am, however, unwilling, with the scanty 

 information at my command, to bestow a name on the bird without the 

 eye-streak; for, if distinct, it will certainly require to be named. Mr. 

 Elliot's name applies to the streaked bird ; Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's name 

 applies to both, he considering that the streaked bird was the male and 

 the unstreaked one the female ; and Mr. Hume's name also applies to 

 both. 



Out of fifteen specimens in Mr. Hargitt's collection three have the eye- 

 streak, and in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's series two out of ten are so marked. 

 In Mr. Hume's museum one in ten appears to be the average of marked 

 birds. 



I think it will be found hereafter that these birds constitute two species, 

 In no case, however, do I see any reason for considering Mr. Hume's eye- 



