Genus BRACHYPTEENTJS. 

 Bill moderately long, with the culmen curved, wide at the base, with the nostrils apart ; 

 gonys short and straight. Wings and tail moderate ; the latter cuneate, the central feathers 

 slightly exceeding the next. Tarsi rather short; anterior toe longer than posterior ; land toe 

 minute, and its claw rudimentary. 



BKACHYPTEKNUS CEYLONUS. 



(THE RED WOODPECKER.) 

 (Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Picas ceylonus, Forster, Naturf xiii. pi. 4. 



Picus erythronotus, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 73 (1818). 



Picas sonneratii, Less. Traite d'Orn. p. 221 (1831). 



Brachypternus erythronotus, Strickl. P. Z. S. 1841, p. 31. 



Brachypternus ceylonus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1846, p. 282 ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 66 

 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 128 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1854, xiii. p. 449 ; Cab. et Heine, Mus. Hein. v. p. 171 (1863); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 

 p. 297; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 428; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 15, et 1875, p. 284 ; 

 id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 202. 



Brahmapicus erythronotus, Malherbe, Mon. Picidre, ii. p. 90, pi. 69. figs. 1-4 (1863). 



Red Woodpecker, Cocoanut-Woodpecker, Europeans in Ceylon; "Toddy-bird," natives in 

 south of Ceylon. 



Pastru carpentaru, Portuguese in Ceylon, lit. "Carpenter-bird" (from its habit of tapping- 

 trees). 



Kceralla, Keberella, Sinhalese ; Tatchan-kuruvi, Tamils in Ceylon. 



r? ad. supra coccineus, colli et dorsi postiei plumis basaliter nigris : uropvgio uigro sordide eoccineo lavato : supra- 

 caudalibua caudaque omniuo nigris : teetricibus alarum eoccineia, basaliter uigris, et pallide eoccineo apicaliter 

 maculatis : reniigibus nigris, albo fasciatim maculatis, primariis extimis pogouio interno tautum notatis, secuudariis 

 extus dorso coucoloribus : plumis superciliaribus nigris albo minute puuetatis : facie laterali fulvescenti-albidii 

 nigro striolata : genis et gula fulvescentibus nigro maculatis : gutture imo nigro : corpore reliquo subtus f ulvescente, 

 plumis nigro marginatis : hypochondriis, subcaudalibus et subalaribus transversim nigro fasciatis ; rostro saturate 

 corneo, maudibulii cyanescenti-eornea : pedibus sordide viridibus : iride rubra. 



i'l'il i male and female. Length 11*4 to 11'75 inches ; wing o-2 to 5"G5 ; tail 3*5 to 4 - ; tarsus 1-0 ; outer anterior 

 toe 0*8, its claw (straight) 0"45 ; outer posterior toe 0-7 ; bill to gape T5 to 1*6. 

 Iris red, dull red, or raddish ; bill blackish, base and sides of under mandible leaden ; legs and feet inurky greenish, 

 olivaceous green, or dusky sap-green. 



Male. Head and crest, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, with the outer webs of secondaries, tertials, and inner 

 primaries crimson, brightest on the crest and back, and merging into the black of the rump ; bases of the 

 head-feathers black, those of the forehead being pointed or tipped with black ; throat, fore neck, space behind the 

 eye, hind neck, upper tail-coverts, and tail black ; a stripe from behind the eye to the nape, and a broader one 

 from the gape dowu the cheeks and sides of the neck to the chest white ; ear-coverts striated, and throat closely 

 spotted with bar-shaped marks of white ; primaries, inner webs of secondaries and tertials, primary-coverts, and 

 point of wing blackish brown ; a series of bar-sbaped spots on the inner webs of all the quills and corresponding 

 marginal whitish spots on the outer webs of the primaries ; secondary-coverts with terminal reddish-white spots ; 



