1212 APPENDIX I. 



It affects, according to Jerdon, the depths of the forest ; but Mr. Bourdillon affirms that it is found " on the margin 

 of heavy jungle, but most abundantly in the secondary growth on land which has once been occupied by the hill-men." 

 According to Jerdon, " its flight is rapid and elegant, and it associates in small flocks ; its cry is mellow, subdued, and 

 agreeable, and it feeds chiefly on fruits of various kinds.'' It breeds in January and February in the natural cavity of a 

 tree, laying from two to four eggs, of a glossy white colour. 



Page ISO. — Loriculus indicus. My readers must note that the figure of the adult on the Plate facing the article on 

 Pal. caWhropce is drawn to a | scale, while that of the young bird on the Plate facing the article on Xanthohema rubri- 

 capilla is life-size. 



Page 184. — Pieus mdhrattensis. This species, writes Mr. Parker, is very common in the Manaar district, breeding 

 in dead trees, in which it makes a hole about 2k inches in diameter. The nesting-season is in May. 



Page 186. — Yungipicus gymnophthalmus. The same valuable correspondent sends me the following interesting note 

 from the Manaar district on this little Woodpecker. Speaking of the nest, which he found on the 8th of April of the 

 present year, he says " it was situated in a dead tree on the side of a paddy-field ; but the tree was so rotten and the 

 branch so weak that I could not obtain the eggs : the hole seemed about 1 inch in diameter and of an elliptical shape, 

 the branch being, at this place, about 3 inches in diameter and slightly sloping, the nest being on the underside. I 

 should not have observed it but for the cries of a Eed-fronted Barbet, which probably had a nest in the same tree. The 

 Barbet was perched on the top of one of the higher branches, and was screaming in a most peculiar manner. For a long 

 time I could not discern what was the cause ; but at last I noticed the little Woodpecker very slowly, but yet in a way 

 that showed he ' meant business,' edging herself sideways towards the other miserable bird. After taking a step or 

 two she stopped to tap the branch, and as she approached the Barbet this tapping was quite as loud as of one of the 

 larger Woodpeckers. I was in hopes I should see another battle-royal, like that between the two Brachypternus ceylonus" 

 (see p. 204) ; " but when only a few inches separated the duellists the Barbet's little remaining courage gave way and 

 she flew off to another tree. The Woodpecker immediately followed, alighting about a couple of feet below, and at once 

 began quietly to sidle towards the objectionable intruder, pretending all the time to be busily seeking for food, till the 

 Barbet finally flew off." This anecdote is very interesting, as showing the methodical, yet plucky, nature of this pigmy 

 among Woodpeckers. 



Page 191. — Chrysocolaptes festivus. I have received a very fine example of this handsome Woodpecker from 

 Mr. Parker. It is from the N.W. Province, and is quite as fine a bird as most Indian specimens. 



Page 197. — Chrysophlegma xanthoderus. Mr. Hume points out (Str. Feath. 1878, p. 517) that Jerdon's name Picus 

 chlorigaster has a few months' precedence of Malherbe's, as the number of the ' Revue Zoologique ' in which the latter 

 name was published did not issue until the end of 1845, whereas No. 31 of the ' Madras Journal ' appeared in February 

 of that year. I had overlooked the precise date, as regards month, in which the number in question of the ' Revue 

 Zoologique ' appeared ; and as Malherbe's title (as a MSS. one) dated from the preceding year, 1844, 1 took it in preference 

 to Jerdon's. The proper name of this Woodpecker is, therefore, Chrysophlegma chlorigaster. 



Prior to my use of Malherbe's name vanthoderus, this Woodpecker was known in all Indian writings by the erroneous 

 title of C. chlorophanes. 



Page 200. — Microptemus gularis. This Woodpecker makes its nest in the interior of the pendent nest of the black 

 ant. After devouring all the inhabitants it hollows out the interior, which serves as the receptacle for its eggs. Mr. Parker 

 writes me of one about which there were numbers of ants still unconsumed when he first found it, but the last time the 

 bird flew out tbey had all disappeared. He was, at the time of writing, awaiting the laying of the eggs. 



Page 202. — Brachypternus ceylonus. Last year Mr. Parker kindly brought home two eggs of this species which I 

 intended to have figured in my Plate, but they unfortunately were destroyed by a pet dog. They were glossy white and 

 broad ovals in shape. One specimen measured 1-16 by - 85inch. A second nest, found in the N.W. Province on the 

 30th December last, was in a small dead tree about 18 feet from the ground ; the hole was 2 J by 3 inches, a vertical ellipse 

 leading into the middle of the trunk and then down a foot. There were two eggs, " rather pointed at the small end, but 

 not quite similar in shape, one being more elliptical than the other." 



Page 205. — Brachypternus puncticollis. Mr. Parker informs me that he has seen yellow-backed and orange-backed 

 Woodpeckers on the Manaar and Madewatchiya road, twenty-three miles from the sea ; they were not in company, and 

 he is inclined to think the orange-backed bird (B. intermedins, nobis) is a good species. I never met with the yellow- 



