BRACHYPTERNUS PUNCTICOLLIS. 207 



than the July number of the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ' ; otherwise B. micropus is the older of 

 the two names. The Picus chrysonatus of Lesson never referred to this species ; it was simply the female of 

 B. aurantius • for, remarks Malherhe, the southern bird did not exist iu the Paris collection at the time Lesson 

 gave his name. 



Distribution. — The pale race of this Woodpecker inhabits the Jaffna peninsula and the adjacent coast 

 down to Manaar ; further south: it occurs, but less plentifully, to Puttalam, although specimens appear to be 

 generally tinged with orange in the latter district ; on the east coast it is found as far south as Trincomalie, 

 but is not at all common on that side of the island. I have noticed a golden-backed Woodpecker south of 

 Kottiar Bay, but I am not able to say to which race it belonged. In the forests the orange bird is found 

 throughout the northern half of the island. I have procured it a few miles inland from Trincomalie ; it is 

 common at Anaradjapura, and throughout the Seven Korales down to the Puttalam district, where Mr. Parker 

 has seen it in the jungles near Uswewa. I fully expected to find it in the jungles of the Eastern Province, 

 but did not succeed, although I was shown a specimen by the late Dr. Gould which he had procured in the 

 " Park" country while on a trip to that part of Ceylon. 



I think I may safely say that directly this species enters the shady forests of Ceylon it alters its coloration, 

 assuming the orange hue ; no pale-backed bird has ever, to my knowledge, been shot in the interior, and no 

 orange-backed one at Jaffna. 



In Ramisserum Island the Southern Golden-backed Woodpecker appears to be very common. My native 

 collector brought me a series of specimens from it, and said it was abundant there. Jerdon says that it is 

 found in "various parts of Southern India, in the Carnatic, and in Malabar." From the latter district I have 

 seen skins ; and Mr. Fairbank writes that it is common in heavy forest on the lower Palanis ; he has also 

 met with it so far north as in the Khandala district near the Goa frontier. 



Habits. — This handsome species frequents, on the sea-coast and in the maritime districts, cocoanut- and 

 palmyra-groves, native gardens, compounds, and scattered jungle in the vicinity of the forest, while in the 

 interior it is found throughout the forests, affecting the heaviest timber and the densest jungle. It has the 

 same jerky flight and a similar loud note of alarm to the last species, and usually consorts in pairs, which do 

 not keep close company, but generally follow each other about, sometimes w r orking on the same tree, but 

 more often searching for their food at a little distance from one another. It runs actively up the trunks of 

 the cocoanut-trees, and when it has reached the top disappears into the head and searches about among the 

 roots of the fronds and the dead flower-stocks, where there are generally numbers of ants to be found. It is 

 very early astir, and when the day has scarcely dawned its loud note is to be heard among the cocoanut- 

 groves in the Jaffna district. It is then very restless, flying from tree to tree before finding a suitable 

 quantity of ants to attack ; and a considerable time elapses before it settles down steadily to work, vigorously 

 tapping and listening attentively for the result of its morning salutation to the varied insect inhabitants of the 

 fine old tamarind- or jack-tree into which it has perhaps betaken itself. In the forests I have seen it devoting 

 much attention to the huge bosses and knarled excrescences of the fine Koombook- or Mee-trees which one 

 so often finds near the remote village tanks. It has a trill note, somewhat louder than that of Layard J s 

 Woodpecker. 



Nidification. — I know nothing concerning the nesting of this Woodpecker ; but Layard says that it 

 excavates large holes in the male palmyra-trees, the wood of which is softer than that of the female. 



The red-backed figure in the Plate represents the type specimen of my B. intermedins, described loc. cit., 

 and which was presented to the Colombo Museum by the late Governor of Ceylon, Sir Wm. Gregory. The 

 pale bird is from the Jaffna peninsula, and the female in the background is an orange-backed bird from the 

 forests near Trincomalie. 



