104 Description of three new species of Woodpecker . [Feb. 



rufous brown: quills and tail feathers more saturate: wing coverts 

 with large buff drops at the end of each plums : remiges and rectrjces, 

 internally dusky : the 4 or 5 first quills of the wings paled at their 

 bases on the inner web: lining of wings, mixed buff and duskv : fore- 

 head, face, neck, and body, below, brownish rusty, picked out on the 

 under tail-coverts with blackish, and deepened on the thighs and 

 sides into fulvous brown : nape and dorsal neck, dull azure or ver« 

 diter blue : chin frequently hoary : behind each ear a triangular black 

 spot, united anteally by a gular band of the same hue : ins, brown : 

 bill, dusky above, fleshy towards the commissure and inferior base : 

 legs, ruddy flesh color : nails, horny white : size 9 to 10 inches by 

 15, and 5 to 6 oz. in weight. 



N. B. Sexes essentially alike, but the female paler; her gular 

 band broken or interrupted ; and her wing coverts frequently un- 

 spotted. The males, too, want these spots, except when they are 

 in full plumage: the bright brownish rusty hue of their fo ehead 

 cheeks, and bodv below, fades to a fulvous or dull fawn color in 

 winter : and the tail coverts are then immaculate. The lower belly 

 and vent are paler than the breast, and frequently albescent. 



V. — Description of three new species of Woodpecker. 

 By B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



Humboldt asserts and Swainson repeats that there are no such 

 forests, or native tenants of the forest, as those of the New World. 

 But he who has tracked the wild elephant and bison through the 

 colo-sal avenues of the Saul (Shorea Rohusta), or the Ghdral and 

 Jhdral*, through those of the Deodar (Pinus Deodara) of India, may 

 perhaps be permitted to doubt this. If the forests of America are 

 ' lofty and interminable,' so are those of the sub-Himalayan moun- 

 tains, from the skirts of the Gangetic plain to the very edge of the 

 perennial snows. The zoological treasures of India may be less 

 celebrated than those of America — carent quia vate sacro — but it is by 

 no means probable that they are less worthy of celebration. Swain- 

 son's observation, above referred to, has reference more especially to 

 the Woodpecker tribe ; in respect to which he avers that the pre-emi- 

 nently typical species are exclusively American. But this is a mis- 

 take : the sub- Himalayan forests afford several such species, one of 

 which rather exceeds, than falls short of, the famous ivory bill (Picas 

 principalis) of America. My collection of Nipalese Woodpeckers 

 already embraces 16 species, which exhibit every known modification 

 of form. I propose at present to describe the most powerful and the 



* Capra Quadrimammis, nobis, and antelope Goral. — Hardwicke. 



