

toe and claw minute ; the plumage of a peculiar chesnut-bay 

 coloring. 



Micropternus phaioceps, Blyth. 



178. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I. p. 294 



THE BENGAL RUFOUS WOODPECKER. 



Length, 9'5 ; wing, 475 to 5; tail, 275; bill at front, 1. 



Plumage dark chesnut bay, with black bands ; head brown above, 

 paling posteriorly, the feathers faintly streaked, and gradually 

 merged on the hind-neck in the bay color of the back ; chin, 

 cheek, and throat, pale, the feathers of this last concolorous with 

 the body, or nearly so, merely having lighter lateral margins ; 

 neck in front, breast and upper part of abdomen, bright chesnut- 

 bay ; from the middle of the abdomen the same but paler and 

 with dusky cross-bands. 



According to Jerdon, the Bengal Rufous Woodpecker is found 

 in some of the forests of Central India. 



Micropternus gularis, Jerd. 



179. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 294 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 386. 



THE MADRAS RUFOUS WOODPECKER. 



Length, 7 to 9 ; wing, 4*8 ; tail, 2'5 to 3 ; bill at front, 0'9. 



Bill blackish ; orbital skin slaty ; irides brown ; legs slaty. 



Head dusky -brown ; the rest of body rufous-bay, with cross 

 bars of dusky black ; a crimson stripe in the male ; chin, throat, 

 lower sides of neck, dark olive-brown, the feathers edged with 

 white ; lower parts unspotted bay ; under tail-coverts faintly 

 barred with dusky. 



The Madras Rufous Woodpecker is a permanent resident in 

 the forests of the Sahyadri Range, and occurs as far north as 

 Khandalla, where it is not very uncommon. It has not been 

 recorded from any other place within the district. 



GENUS, Brachypternus, Strick. 



Bill distinctly curved, moderately compressed and sloping on 

 the sides ; lateral ridge wanting ; nostrils apert, but the frontal 

 feathers produced to their base Tgonys short ; tail cuneate, the 

 two central feathers longest ; feet small, outer posterior and 

 mid-toe nearly equal ; hind-toe and claw minute. 



Brachypternus aurantius, Lin. 



ISO. Jerdon's Birds' of India, Vol. I, p. 295 ; Butler, Guzerat; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 458 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology 

 of Smd, p. 114 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 62. 



