270 birds of india. 



The Himalayan Pied Woodpecker. 



Descr. — Plumage above black ; a large white bar on the wings, 

 formed by the median wing-coverts and some of the scapulars ; quills 

 with small white spots on their outer webs, and large spots on their 

 inner webs ; tail with the central feathers unspotted black ; the two 

 outermost feathers, on each side, white with black bars ; the next 

 pair with some white bars on the outer web only ; beneath, the 

 plumage is sullied or rufescent white ; and the under tail-coverts are 

 crimson ; head, in the male, albescent in front, the cap mottled red 

 and black, the tips of the feathers being crimson, though entirely 

 black in the female ; lores, round the eye, and the lower ear-coverts, 

 white ; a black stripe from the base of the lower mandible, extending 

 behind the ear to the nape and down the sides of the neck, the 

 white of the sides of the neck running parallel to, and behind 

 this, and forming a demi-collar posteriorly. 



Length, about 10 inches ; wing 5^ ; tail 3^ ; bill at front 1\ ; 

 stretch of foot l|th. 



This Woodpecker is very similar to P. major of Europe, but 

 the white bars on the primaries are much narrower than in thatspecies, 

 and the black markings on the sides of the neck are less deve- 

 loped and also less strongly defined, not descending so low on the 

 breast, where a ferruginous stain is always perceptible, and the 

 upper third of the ear-coverts is black, instead of being wholly 

 whitish as in P. major. The latter, too, at least the adult male, has 

 merely an occipital crescent, instead of the entire crown, crimson. 



It has only, as yet, been procured from the North-west Hima- 

 layas, and is said to be pretty common in Cashmere. Adams, 

 indeed, states that it is common over all India ; but that is evidently 

 some mistake. 



P. assimilis, Natterer, from the Himalayas, is probably the same 

 as this. It is stated to differ from P. major chiefly by its white 

 scapulars. 



155. Picus maj oroides, Hodgson. 



Gray, Zool. Misc., and Cat. of B. of Nepal — Dendrocopus 

 Darjellensis, Blyth, J. A. S. XIV, 196— Blyth, Cat. 289— 



