CAMPEFHlLIN^. 285 



The Great Black Woodpecker. 



Descr. — Head, with short thick crest, and stripe running from 

 the base of the lower mandible, crimson ; lower part of back, rump 

 and middle of the belly, white ; the rest of the plumage deep black. 



Bill black ; legs dark plumbeous ; irides crimson. 



Length 1 9 inches ; wing 9 ; tail 7^ ; bill at front 2^^. \ inch 

 wide at base ; tail much wedged ; 6th quill longest. 



The female has the forehead and the top of the head black ; the 

 occiput only being crimson. 



This splendid Woodpecker has only been found in the most 

 dense and lofty forests of the Malabar coast, both above and below 

 the Ghats. I have seen it myself, though rarely, at the foot of the 

 Peria Pass, in the Wynaad, in Coorg, and at the top of the Ghats 

 near Garsoppa. It has, however, been also procured in Travancore, 

 and in other localities. It is not a noisy bird ; and it is very shy 

 and difficult of approach. 



Mulleripicus Javensis, Horsf., is a very closely allied species, from 

 Malacca and the islands ; and M. Hodgei, BL, a fine wholly sooty 

 black species, excepting the usual crimson marks about the head, 

 has been found in the Andamans. Very recently also, another 

 species has been found in Upper Pegu, which only differs 

 from our bird in the much greater quantity of white underneath 

 its wings. 



Sub-fam. Gecinin^. 



Bill widened, with the culmen more or less curved ; lateral ridge 

 very slight, or absent altogether ; gonys short ; feet small ; hind- 

 toe shorter than the anterior outer toe; the hind-toe, indeed, is 

 always very small, and absent in some. 



Gen. Gecinus, Boie. 



Syn. Brachylophus, Swains. 



Char. — Bill slightly widened in its whole length, compressed at 

 the tip ; upper mandible thickened at the base, with one or more 

 slightly elevated lines (representing the lateral ridge), close to the 

 culmen, which is very slightly arched ; gonys very short ; wings 

 moderate ; anterior and versatile toes nearly equal ; hind-head, 



