68 PICID^E. 



middle, the tip dusky ; iris yellowish white ; legs and feet greenish' 

 slate (Legge). 



Length about 11*5 ; tail 3-5 ; wing 5-9 ; tarsus 1-1 ; bill from 

 gape 1*9. 



Distribution. Confined to Ceylon. This Woodpecker is found in 

 forests almost throughout the island, on both hills and lowlands. 



Habits, 6fc. Similar to those of C.gutticristatus. Legge observed 

 birds of this species haunting a nest-hole high up a large tree in 

 January in such a manner as to indicate that they had young. 



Genus HEMICERCUS, Swainson, 1837. 



Size small ; bill straight, compressed towards the end, nasal ridge 

 well marked, beginning at the base halfway between culmen and 

 commissure and extending half the distance to the tip ; nostrils 

 covered with plumes ; feet very large, hallux well developed, fourth 

 toe longer than third ; a long crest on the occiput and nape ; neck 

 very slender ; tail very short, but little exceeding the tail-coverts 

 and only about one-third the length of the wing, the tail-feathers 

 rounded at the end, outer pair distinctly shorter. Plumage black 

 or dark olivaceous grey and buff. Both sexes have in the middle 

 of the back a tuft of bristly feathers smeared with a viscid secretion 

 having a peculiar resinous scent. 



Only three species are known, of which one is peculiar to Java, 

 the others inhabit India and Burma. 



Key to the Species. 



A. Crown red in males, olive-grey like remainder 



of head in females, ruddy buff in young .... H. sordidus, p. 68. 



B. Crown black with white specks in males, buff 



in females and young H. canente, p. 69. 



994. Hemicercus sordidus. The Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker. 



Dendrocopus sordidus, Eyton, A. M. N. H. xvi, p. 229 (1845). 

 Hemicercus concretus (Temm.), apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 195; 



id. Cat. p. 54 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat, ii, p. 650. 

 Hemicercus sordidus, Tweeddale, Ibis, 1877, p. 291 ; Hume fy Dav. 



S. F. vi, p. 128 ; Hume, Cat. no. 165 bis A ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 32 ; 



Hargitt, Ibis, 1884, p. 247 ; id. Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 483. 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and crown crimson ; coronal feathers 

 elongate, the crimson cap tapering to a point on the occiput ; long 

 nuchal crest, with the sides of the head and neck, chin, throat, and 

 breast olivaceous grey; hind neck buff; back, scapulars, wing- 

 coverts, and tertiaries black, each feather with a buff margin and 

 many with a buff bar across the middle ; remaining quills brownish 

 black except the inner margin towards the base, which, with the 

 rest of the wing-lining, is buff ; on the secondaries some trian- 

 gular buff spots appear on the outer webs, which gradually increase 

 till they become bars on the tertiaries ; lower back uniform grey ; 

 rump buff ; upper and low r er tail-coverts black tipped with buff ; 



