AND NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES FOUND THERE. 201 



few yards of each other in the same compound. In the Central 

 Province it is abundant at all elevations, but not so numerous at 

 medium altitudes, such as 3,000 to 4,000 feet, as B. ceylonus. 



The average dimensions of adult males are : length, 11 '5 

 inches ; wing, 5*8 to 5'9 ; bill at front, 1*7 to 1*8 ; females, as 

 far as I can judge from half a dozen examples collected in 

 different parts of the islands, are slightly larger than the other 

 sex. The smallest I have has a wing- of 5*8, and the largest one 

 of 6*1. Immature birds, well into the first year, are shorter 

 in the bill by from 009 to - 15, and have the upper mandible 

 darker about the culmen than adults. 



Judging from two examples (females) in my collection, 

 which were shot in the forests between here and the central road, 

 the plumage of this Woodpecker appears to fade in a remark- 

 able manner, particularly as regards the head, hind neck, and 

 wings. When in new feather, the black of the head in the female 

 is intense black, and the spots quite circular, and much more 

 perfect than in the abraded stage. In one of the above instances, 

 however, the head and nape are intermingled with old light 

 brown feathers, the point of the wing and tip of earlier pri- 

 maries are brownish grey, and the red of the least wing-coverts 

 faded into reddish grey ; a few of the pectoral feathers are also 

 of an umber brown hue. In the other case, the tips of the 

 nuchal feathers, those of the hind neck, point of wing and the 

 primaries, as well as their coverts, are light brown, while the 

 interscapular region is reddish gray. In the first instance, the 

 entire head would appear to have been in a faded condition 

 before any of the new black feathers sprung ; in the second, the 

 black of the vertex and forehead consists of the old feather, and 

 the process of fading seems to have commenced from the neck 

 upwards. 



Were it not that these two females, as far as size, colour of 

 iris,* and bill were perfectly adult, and that the peculiar ap- 

 pearance of the tips of the quills and wing-coverts gave unmis- 

 takeable signs of abrasion and alteration of colour, I should 

 have been disposed to have regarded this coloration as im- 

 mature, t 



179.— Micropternus gularis, Jerdon. (72.) 



With regard to Mr. Hume's remark, antea, Vol. 7., p. 434, re 

 Mr. Holds worth's notice of the dark lower parts of Ceylon 

 specimens, I would suggest that, in all probability, the latter 

 gentleman took his observations from males, which are consider- 

 ably darker than females, both above and beneath. This species 



* Dusky in the ytmng. 



f Doubtless the brown feathers were the remains of immature plumage. — Ed., S. F. 



2 B 



