78 



In the female the forehead and sinciput are brownish rufous, 

 like the hind neck. 



Upper mandible dark brown, lower plumbeous ; iris crimson, 

 orbits dusky red ; legs yellowish red (Oates). 



Length 3'4 ; tail 1 ; wing 2-1 ; tarsus '55 ; bill from gape "55. 



Distribution. The Himalayas in Nepal, and further eastward ; 

 Assam, Tipperah, Sylhet, Cachar, Manipur, and throughout Burma, 

 but not, so far as is known, farther south, this species being 

 replaced in the Malay Peninsula by S. abnormis. In Sikkim 

 8. ochracea is found between 1000 and 6000 feet. 



Habits, fyc. This little Woodpecker is usually solitary or in 

 pairs ; it haunts brushwood and bamboos in forest, and, like Picum- 

 nus innominatus, often makes its presence known by the noise it 

 produces by tapping on bamboos. It lives on various insects, 

 partly, at all events, on Coleoptera. Its eggs have been found in 

 Sikhim by Mr. Gammie, amongst others, in June and July. It 

 makes a hole, sometimes in the stem of a tree, sometimes in a 

 bamboo. The eggs are white and measure about -63 by '5. 



Subfamily IYNGIN.E. 



Tail-feathers soft, flexible ; tail about three quarters the length 

 of the wing or more ; nostrils not covered by plumes, but partially 

 covered by a membrane. 



This subfamily contains the Wrynecks, which form a single 

 genus. 



Genus IYNX, Linn., 1766. 



Bill of moderate length, conical, compressed ; nostrils large, near 

 the culmen ; wing pointed ; plumage soft, brownish grey in colour, 

 minutely speckled. Sexes alike. 



Four species are known, three of which are confined to Africa ; 

 the fourth is a migratory bird, visiting India and Burma in 

 winter. 



1003. lynx torquilla. The Common Wryneck . 



Yunx torquilla, Linn. Syst. Nat. \, p. 172 (1766) Blyth, J. A. S. B. 



xvi, p. 467 ; id. Cat. p. 65 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. ii, p. 679 ; Jerdon, 



B. I. i, p. 303 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 22 ; id. 



S. F. ii, p. 461 ; Brooks, J.A.S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 74 ; Butler, S. F. 



in, p. 459 ; v, p. 227 j ix, p. 386 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 206 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 188 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 120. 

 Jynx torquilla, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, pp. 356, 357. 

 lynx torquilla, Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 49; Scully, ibid. p. 430; 



Oates, B. B. ii, p. 23 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 65 ; Hargitt, Cat. B. M. 



xviii, p. 560; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, p. 380; 



Oates in Humes N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii ; p. 318 ; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., 



Aves, p. 110. 



Gardan eyengtha, H. ; Meda nulingadu, Tarn. 



