GECININ.E. 119 



THE GOLDEN-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Length, 11 to 12; extent, 17 to 19; wing, 5'5 to 5'8 ; tail, 

 3-5 to 4 ; bill at front, T35 ; bill from gape, 1*5 to 17. 



Bill slaty-black ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet dark green. 



Male : head and crest bright crimson ; middle of neck, behind, 

 black ; upper back and scapulars rich golden-yellow ; middle 

 of the back black mixed with olive-yellow ; lower back, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail, black ; wing-coverts black at the shoulder, 

 gradually changing to golden olive-yellow, each feather spotted 

 with fulvescent-white ; wings the same externally, except the 

 first quills which are black, as all are internally, and marked 

 with large white spots on their inner webs ; a stripe through 

 the eyes and ear-coverts mixed black and grey ; lores, 

 cheek and sides of neck forming a white stripe below the 

 dark eye-streak ; chin, throat, neck below, and breast black, 

 with white marks increasing in size on the breast, all the 

 feathers being edged or scaled with black, diminishing in extent 

 on the lower abdomen, which is almost white, and forming 

 cross-bands on the flanks and thigh-coverts. 



The Golden-backed Woodpecker is very common throughout 

 the district, with the exception of the Deccan and South 

 Mahratta country, where it is replaced by the next species. 



It is a permanent resident, breeding during March and April 

 and again in June and July ; the eggs, there is no nest, are 

 deposited at the bottom of a hole, pierced in a branch of a tree, 

 most frequently a mango ; they are three in number, of a polished 

 milk-white color, of an elongated oval shape and measure I'll 

 inches in length by 0'8 in breadth. 



Brachypternus puncticollis, Malh. 



181. Brachypternus chrysonotus, Less. Jerdon's Birds of India, 



Vol, I, p. 296 ; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 



p. 386. 



THE LESSER GOLDEN-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Length, 11 '5 ; expanse, 17 ; wing, 5'25 ; tail, 3'25 ; bill at 

 front, 1-12. 



Bill dark slaty ; irides crimson ; legs plumbeous-green. 



Very similar to the last, but smaller ; the frontal feathers are 

 more mixed with black in the male ; the black of the nape is 

 continued lower upon the shoulders, contrasting strongly with 

 the golden-orange of the back ; the wings are of a duller golden ; 

 the eye-streak is narrower, but darker and more strongly defined, 

 and it has the white spots smaller ; the white markings of the 

 throat and foreneck are also smaller, and consist of round oval 

 points, being edged on the sides of the neck by unspotted black ; 

 and, lastly, the white markings of the under parts are narrower, 

 giving a generally darker hue to the breast and abdomen. 



The Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker only occurs in the 



