MEGAL.EMA ZEYLANICA. 209 



Mecjalcema zeylanica, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, pp. 297, 311 ; Marshall, Mon. Capitonidse, pi. 40 



(1871). 

 Le Kottorea, Levaill. Barbus, pi. 38 ; Le Cabezon kottorea, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 

 The Large Barhet, Kelaart ; Woodpecker, Europeans in Ceylon. 

 Kotoruwa (so called from its note), Sinhalese ; Kootoor, Ceylonese Tamils ; Kootooroo, 



Portuguese in Ceylon. 



Similis M. canicipiti, sed minor et capite et collo postico brunnescentioribus, et striis medianis minus conspicuis : 

 tectricum alarum maculis pallidis minus conspicuis. 



Adult male and female. Length 9 - 5 to 1O0 inches ; wing 4-2 to 4-5 ; tail 2-5 to 2 - 7 ; tarsus 1*2 ; outer anterior toe 

 and claw 1*15 ; posterior outer toe 1*1 ; bill to gape 1"6 to 1-8. 



Iris reddish brown, with a pale outer circle, sometimes brownish buff ; bill dull orange or fleshy red ; legs and feet 

 sickly yellow or piale olivaceous yellow ; orbital skin dull yellow. 



Bristles round the bill black : head, hind neck, throat, and chest umber-brown, passing on the lower part of hmd neck 

 into the grass-green of the back, wings, and tail ; the brown parts with pale striae, yellowish and most conspicuous 

 on the lower part of hind neck, throat, and chest ; wing-coverts with yellowish terminal spots ; some of the 

 tertials and rump-feathers with an occasional wash of bluish ; outer primaries brown, with yellowish-grey edgings 

 towards the tips ; inner webs of remaining quills brown, with pale yellowish inner margins ; chin obscure slaty 

 grey (this hue not always discernible) ; ear-coverts brownish yellow ; beneath, from the chest, light green, paling 

 gradually into the brown of that part ; under wing-coverts yellowish, tinged with greenish ; under surface of 

 tail bluish. 



Young. The young quickly assume the plumage of the adult, being at first paler about the head and hind neck. 



A young female, with the wing measuring 4-1 inches, in my collection, has the head, face, and hind neck pale brown, 

 with the stria? whitish, in which colour they are continued to the green feathers of the interscapular region ; the 

 throat and fore neck are paler brown than the head, with the striae whitish and blending gradually into the ground- 

 colour ; upper breast very slightly suffused with green. This example might well pass for a small specimen of 

 M. caniceps. 



Obs. This species is very closely allied to its representative in Central and Southern India, some specimens being 

 scarcely separable were it not for their constantly smaller size. The wing in this Barbet, Megalaima caniceps, 

 varies from 4-6 to 4-9 inches, the average length being, I imagine, about 4-75. It has the head, hind neck, and 

 throat paler than in M. zeylanica, the stripes are broader and are continued down on to the interscapular region '; 

 the wing-coverts have the pale central spots more pronounced. 



Megalozma viridis, from Malabar, Travancore, and other Southern-Indian hill-districts, is very nearly related to the last 

 mentioned, but is smaller than it and less even than the Ceylonese bird. The wing varies from 3-7 to 4-4 inches. 

 Jerdon's description of it is : — " Very similar to Meg. caniceps, but smaller, the brown of the head and nape scarcelv 

 lineated ; that of the under parts pale, becoming whitish on the throat ; there are no pale specks on the winc- 

 coverts, nor any traces of pale streaks on the green of the back." Another species from Southern India is the 

 Megalcema inornata, Walden, which was, until lately, confounded with M. caniceps. It is readily distinguished 

 from that species by the " absence of the broad pale median streaks on the pectoral plumage." It has the " chin, 

 throat, breast, and upper portion of the abdominal region uniform pale brown ; each feather has the shaft very 

 faintly paler. The plumage above closely resembles that of M. caniceps ; but the terminal spots on the wing-coverts 

 and tertiaries are almost altogether wanting." In the uniformity of the throat it differs from all other Barbets. 



Distribution. — This noisy well-known bird, commonly called a " Woodpecker " or " Woodcutter " by the 

 Eurasian population and many Europeans, is very abundant in most parts of the low country, except close to 

 the seashore or in large tracts of damp forest such as clothe much of the face of the southern half of the 

 island. It is likewise an inhabitant of the Kandyan Province up to an altitude of about 2500 or 3000 feet in 

 the western and northern parts, and to about 4000 feet in the drier district of Uva. Those parts in which 

 it is numerous are the cultivated portions of the west and south-west, parts of the Eastern Province (in which 

 it is locally distributed), portions of the flat forest-clad country lying between Lemastota and the S.E. coast, 



