THIUPONAX. 



73 



Coloration. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, and large malar 

 patch on each side crimson ; lower back and rump, lower breast 

 and upper part of abdomen, flanks, axillaries, and basal portion 

 (1-1-15 inches long) of inner webs of secondaries buffy white ; 

 remainder of plumage black. 



Female. The crimson is confined to the occiput and nape, all 

 the remainder of the head black. 



Bill black ; irides crimson ; legs dark plumbeous (Jerdon). 



Length of males about 19, of females 17'5 ; tail 7 ; wing 8'5 ; 

 tarsus 1'5 ; bill from gape 2' 6. 



Distribution. Forests near the Malabar coast up to an elevation 

 of about 3000 feet or rather higher, from Travancore to west of 

 Belgaum (16 N. lat.). Not recorded farther north. 



Habits, $c. A shy bird, not noisy, usually found in pairs, some- 

 times in parties of three to six. It keeps generally to evergreen 

 forest and has a loud, not unpleasant, call-note. The eggs are not 

 known with certainty, and Davidson thinks it lays one only, as he 

 never saw more than three birds together. 



998. Thriponax feddeni. The Burmese Great Black 

 Woodpecker. 



Mulleripicus feddeni, Blanford, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxxii, p. 75 (1863). 

 Thriponax jerdoni, Cab. $ Heine, Mus. Hein. iv (2), p. 105 (1863). 

 Hemilophus feddeni, Blanf. Ibis, 1870, p. 464. 

 Thriponax feddeni, Walden, Ibis, 1871, p. 164 ; Bingham, S. F. viii, 



p. 194 ; ix, p. 162 ; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 409 ; Oates, B. B. ii, 



p. 28 ; Hargitt, Ibis, 1885, p. 152 ; id. Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 504 ; 



Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 578. 

 Thriponax crawfurdi, apud Hume, S. F. iii, p. 66 ; Blyth 8f Wald. 



Birds Burm. p. 75 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 134 ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 169 ter, nee Pic us crawfurdii, Gray *. 



Coloration very similar to that of T. hodysoni, but distinguished 

 by the much larger extent of the white or creamy-white area on 

 the lower parts, where the white extends from the middle breast 



* Picus crawfurdii was described in 1829 by Dr. J. E. Gray (Griffith's Ouv. 

 An. King., Birds, ii. p. 513, fig.) from a coloured drawing made by a native artist 

 for Mr. Crawfurd, by whom the drawing was brought to England. No specimen 

 of the bird has ever been examined by a naturalist, and as in many similar 

 cases, where names have been given to figures, it has proved impossible to 

 recognize the species. The following description was taken by Dr. Gray from 

 the drawing : 



" The whole upper part (except the crest) is deep dark brown, sprinkled 

 with grey on the sides of the neck ; across the breast is a large lunule patch of 

 slate-colour with small dark waves ; the belly is yellow, with the like crescent- 

 shaped spots, and the crest is deep red." 



It should be added that in the figure the crown (not the forehead) is red, 

 and there is no red malar patch. The black rump distinguishes the figure 

 from T. feddeni. I strongly suspect the drawing to have been an inaccurate 

 representation of a female T.javensis. Mr. Crawfurd, however, resided for a 

 considerable time in Ava, where T. feddeni occurs. 



