60 PICID^E. 



trees, and especially in mango-groves. It is also found in thin 

 forest, and in Sind in tamarisk-scrub, and feeds much on ants ; it 

 is a bold noisy bird with a loud screaming call, often uttered on the 

 wing. It breeds in Northern India in March and April, and again 

 in June and July, in Ceylon from February till June ; the eggs, 

 three in number as a rule, being often laid in Northern India in a 

 hole in a mango-tree. The eggs are white and glossy, and measure 

 about 1-11 by -8. 



987. Brachypternus erythronotus. The Red-backed Woodpecker. 



Picus erithronothos, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d>Hist. Nat. xxvi, p. 73 



(1818). 



Picus ceylonus, Cuv. Regne Anim. e"d. 2 e , i, p. 451 (1829). 

 Brachypternus erythronotus, Strickland, P. Z. S. 1841, p. 31 ; Hargitt, 



Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 409 ; Gates, in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, 



p. 311. 

 Brachypternus ceylonus, Blyth, Cat. p. 56 ; Layard,A. M. N. H. (2) 



xiii, p. 449 (1854) ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 656 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 



p. 297 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 428 ; Hume, Cat. no. 182 bis ; 



Leyge, Birds Ceyl. p. 202, pi. viii. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown black, the feathers 

 tipped crimson ; occipital crest crimson, feathers more or less 

 white-shafted ; sides of head black, with two buffy-white stripes, 

 one from above the eye over the ear-coverts, the other from the 

 base of the upper mandible below the eye and ear-coverts down 

 the side of the neck ; supraorbital, upper loral, and malar regions 

 spotted white, ear-coverts streaked with white ; back of neck and 

 uppermost part of back, rump, and upper tail-coverts black, the 

 rump-feathers edged with crimson; back and scapulars bright 

 crimson like the crest ; coverts and outer webs of secondaries 

 duller crimson ; generally several of the outer greater coverts and 

 a few median coverts each with a subterminal pinkish- white spot ; 

 both webs of primary quills and inner webs of secondaries black 

 with white spots, except near the tips ; tail black ; chin and 

 middle of throat like malar region black with apical white spots, 

 and generally with the base of the feathers white, sides of throat 

 entirely black ; rest of lower parts white, often sullied, the feathers 

 with black edges, which are so broad on the breast as to pre- 

 dominate, the white being frequently reduced to large spots ; 

 flanks, thighs, and lower tail-coverts more or less barred with black. 



Female. Forehead and crown black, with small white apical 

 spots ; occipital crest alone crimson. 



Bill blackish, base and sides of under mandible leaden ; iris red ; 

 legs and feet murky greenish, olivaceous green, or dusky sap-green 

 (Legge). 



Length about 11*5 inches ; tail 3-75 ; wing 5-4 ; tarsus -95 ; 

 bill from gape 1*5. 



Distribution. Peculiar to Ceylon, found almost throughout the 

 island up to 3500 or 4000 feet elevation. 



Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of B. aurantius. According to 



