ORD. INSESSORES. 



TRIBE— SCANSORES. 



FAIL PICID^. 

 GEN. PICUS. 



PLATE V. 



PICUS HODGSONII—Jerdon. 



WHITE-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Synon. — Hemilophus Hodgsonii, Jerdon, No. 213, Cat. (with coloured figure) Madras 

 Jom-n. of Lit. and Science, No. xxvii, page 215. 



This fine Woodpecker is found in the lofly forests of Western India, but is by 

 no means common, and I have never yet been enabled to procure a fresh specimen, as it is 

 extremely wary. Native Shikarees however occasionally shoot it, and it is by no means un- 

 common to see it in collections formed by Gentlemen on the West coast. Of its geographical 

 distribution out of the Peninsula, I am at present ignorant. 



Description. — Head, crest, and stripe from the lower mandible crimson, lower part 

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

 legs plumbeous. Length of one specimen (the largest I have seen) 19i inches long — of 

 wing 9 — tail 7 1 — tarsus 1^ — biU to front 2t'o — at gape 2to — width at base ^ inch — wing 

 Trith 6th quill longest — tail much wedged. It appears to belong to Swainson's subgenus 

 Hemilophus. 



It appears to resemble very closely the Picus lencogaster of Temminck, which 

 Horsfield identifies with his P. Jacensis, siace named P. Horsfieldii by Wagler. In none 

 of the descriptions however of these species do I find any mention of the conspicuously 



F 



