ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 63 



Khasi hills. In Burmah its distribution is similar to that of 

 Jlavinucha, except that it does not seem to extend to Central 

 Pegu. 



176.— Blythipicus pyrrhotis, Hodgs. 



I never met with this species in the Western hills, but I 

 saw four together near Aimole, and at Machi I succeeded in 

 killing two females out of another party of four. 



In both cases the birds were feeding either on the ground or 

 on roots running along the ground. In both cases they were 

 in the midst of the densest undergrow^th in high forest, and 

 but for their cries I should have known nothing of their 

 whereabouts. They have a very loud screeching call, al- 

 most ^ like that of a Hierococcyx, and are very vociferous. 

 Hearing the noise, I crept up towards the spot ; in the first 

 case they rose from the ground about 20 yards away, but 

 were out of sight before I could shoot. In the second place 

 they rose quite close and I got a right and left. Their flight, 

 at any rate when they first start, is very swift. 



These were the only occasions on which I saw them, and 

 I had no opportunity of observing their habits, of which next 

 to nothing is known. Those I killed had fed on huge white 

 larvae. 



Both females were precisely alike, and their measurements 

 hardly differed a hair's breadth. They measured : — 



Length, 11-25, 11-33 ; expanse, 182, 1825 ; tail, 3-95, 3-97 ; 

 wing, 5-67, 5*7 ; tarsus, 097, 0-95 ; bill from gape, 1-85, 186 ; 

 weight, 5*1, 5-05ozs. 



The bill was rather pale lemon yellow ; the irides brownish 

 red or maroon ; the legs and feet blackish or leaden black ; 

 the soles dirty-yellow ; the claws brown. 



We have this species from N.-E. Cachar, and Godwin- 

 Austen has noted it from the Naga hills and the Shengorh 

 Peak of the Dafla hills, but I have as yet no other record of 

 its occurrence anyivhere in Assam, Cachar or Sylhet. 



I have not yet seen this species from Pegu or Arakan, but 

 it occurs in the northern and central divisions of Tenasserim. 

 It is everywhere, I think, a scarce bird. 



177.— Gecinulus grantia, McClell. 



I only shot a single specimen of this Woodpecker, and that 

 was in the Eerung valley in the Western hills, but I twice 

 saw it, once near Aimole and once near Machi, in the Eastern 

 hills, on both occasions in pairs. 



