HEMILOPHUS. 71 



extending beyond the coverts ; feathers of the head short, harsh 

 and scaly ; no crest. Plumage ashy. 



A single species, which is the largest Indian Woodpecker. 



996. Hemilophus pulverulentus. The Great Slaty Woodpecker. 



Picus pulverulentus, Temm. PL Col. pi. 389 (1826). 

 Picus gutturalis, Valenc. Diet. Sc. Nat. xl, p. 178 (1826). 

 Hemilophus pulverulentus, 8wains. Classif. B. ii, p. 309 ; Blyth, 



Cat. p. 54 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxiii, p. 215 ; Blanf. Ibis, 1870, p. 464 ; 



Hargitt, Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 494; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 



2nd ed. ii, p. 315. 



P- 



p. 133 ; Hume, Cat. no. 168 ; Bint/ham, S. F. ix, pp. 141, 162, 472^ 

 Alophonerpes gutturalis, Cab. fy Heine, Mus. Hein. iv (2), p. 106 ; 



Blyth $ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 75. 

 Mulleripicus gutturalis, Hume <y Oates, S. F. iii, p. 66. 

 Alophonerpes pulverulentus, Wardl.-Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 457 ; Oates, 



B. B. ii, p. 29. 



Coloration. Male. Ashy grey ; head paler, especially in front, 

 all feathers of forehead, crown, neck, and breast with small pale 

 tips ; a large dull pale crimson patch in the malar region below 

 the eye ; chin, throat, and fore neck saffron-yellow, tinged with 

 red, especially on the fore neck, the feathers of the yellow area 

 short and stiff ; whole body slaty ash, paler and isabelline round 

 the vent ; quills and tail-feathers darker ; outer webs of primaries 

 sometimes tipped pale. 



The female wants the red malar patch, and the throat and fore 

 neck are yellow without any red. In young males the forehead 

 and greater part of the crown are tinged with pale crimson. 



Bill bluish white, black on the culmen and tips of both man- 

 dibles ; mouth bluish black ; eyelids plumbeous ; iris dark hazel- 

 brown ; legs dark plumbeous ; claws bluish (Oates). 



Length of males about 20 ; tail 7 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1*55 ; bill 

 from gape 3 : females rather less. 



Distribution. The Terai and base of the Himalayas, as far west 

 as Kumaun (or, perhaps, Dehra Dun), not common ; also from 

 Assam throughout Burma to Cochin China, Sumatra, Java, and 

 Borneo, sparingly distributed as a rule, but common in a few 

 localities. 



Habits, $c. This grand "Woodpecker is a deni/en of high forests, 

 and especially of hilly tracts, and is generally seen high up the 

 stems and upper branches of trees, keeping in small parties of 

 from three or four to ten or twelve, and very noisy, often uttering 

 a peculiar querulous call. The nest was found by Bingham during 

 the rains in a Kanyin tree (Dipterocarpus alatus) that had been 

 blown down and used as a bridge over ;i sin -am. The birds 

 had made a hole 3| inches in diameter, extending a foot inwards 

 and then 8 inches downwards. The hole contained two fresh 

 glossy white eggs, measuring 1*41 x I'll. 



