YUNGIPICUS GYMNOPHTHALMOS. 1ST 



the Jaffna peninsula, -where it may also possibly occur. It is in the south-west of the island and in the 

 Eastern Province where it is most abundant ; in the latter part it is particularly seeu about the dead trees 

 standing in the beds of all the newly finished tanks. In the Galle district it is a common bird in localities 

 suited to its habits; and about Colombo it is not uncommon, having been procured by myself as near that 

 town as the cinnamon-gardens of Morotuwa. Layard states that he discovered it near the capital in the year 

 1848. About Uswewa, near Puttalam, Mr. Parker writes me it is common ; beyond this in the Northern 

 Province it is sparingly distributed, as far as I have been able to trace it, but, being difficult of discovery on 

 account of its small size, it may often escape observation in that jungle-clad region. It occurs in the Central 

 Province up to about 3000 feet. I have met with it in Pusselawa, Nilambe, Deltota, and parts of t'va, and I 

 have no doubt it is to be found on the Dimbulla and Dickoya side as well. 



In India it has been found, as far as present experience proves, only in the south, and even there it has 

 escaped observation until rather recently. Jerdon had evidently seen it, though he had not procured it before 

 the publication of his work, for he remarks, at p, 279, vol. i., " I have reason to believe that another and 

 darker-coloured species is found in the Malabar forests ; but whether this may prove identical with one of 

 the Himalayan species or with the Ceylon bird in particular, I cannot now ascertain." Subsequently he 

 satisfied himself of the question; for in his supplementary notes, contained in 'Ibis,' 1872, he writes that the 

 Ceylon species occurs in the extreme south of Malabar and Travancore, and is the bird alluded to in the above- 

 mentioned paragraph. Mr. Bourdillon has procured it in the latter district, whence also Mr. Hume has 

 received numerous specimens, and Mr. Fairbank obtained it in the lower Palanis. 



Habits. — This little bird, which, but for the frequent utterance of its shrill little note, would often 

 completely escape observation, lives generally in pairs, and frequents the uppermost branches of trees, often 

 perching across them for a short space of time. I have observed it settle thus on a mere twig, and then after 

 a moment's pause sidle down to an adjoining branch. It works much at the broken tops of small dead 

 branches, picking out worms and grubs from the rotten wood. In Rugam tank I observed it breaking off 

 comparatively large pieces of dead surface-wood and searching beneath them for food. It is very fond of the 

 jack-tree ; and in the south of Ceylon I have often seen it in the "Dell" or wild bread-fruit trees [Artocarpus 

 nobilis), which stand in low cheena wood, having been spared the axe for the sake of the timber. In the 

 Northern Province I have usually observed it in large trees near rivers and tanks, and in the Kandyan 

 country at the edges of coffee-estates or patnas. Its powers of flight, afforded by its long wings, are con- 

 siderable, and its note, which is a prolonged trill, is audible at some distance, even when uttered at the tops 

 of the loftiest trees. 



Mr. Bourdillon's remark on this species, as observed by him in Travancore, is that "it lives in the tops 

 of high trees, and is as difficult to observe as to shoot." 



Nidification. — In the Western Province this Woodpecker breeds in February and March, nesting in holes 

 in small branches. A nest which Mr. Mac Vicar found in the Colombo district, near Pore, was in a 

 branch with an opening leading to it of about 1 inch in diameter. There were three young birds in it just 

 hatched, and the egg-fragments were shining white. 



'Ji; 



