138 PICIDiB THEIPIAS 



441. Thripias namaquus. Bearded Woodpecker. 



Picus namaquus, LicM. Cat. rer. Nat. Hamh. p. 17 (1793). 



Le Pio a double moustache, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. vi, p. 22. pis. 251, 252 



(1808). 

 Dendrobates namaquus, Laijard, B. 8. Afr. p. 236 (1867) ; id. Ibi 



1871, p. 227 [Kanye] ; Ayres, ibid. p. 261 ; BuoUey, Ibis, 1874, p. 368 



[Transvaal] . 

 Dendropicus namaquus, Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 188, 812 



(1875-84) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1879, p. 300 [Magaliesberg] ; Oates, Maia- 



beleland, p. 306 (1881) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 249 [Umfuli river] . 

 Mesopicus namaquus, Hargitt, Ibis, 1883, p. 407; W. Ayres, Ibis, 



1887, p. 53 [Zoutspansberg] . 

 Thripias namaquus, Ourney in Andersson's B. Bamaraland, p. 219 



(1872) ; Hargitt, Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 306 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, 



p. 133 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 501 [Zululand] ; Woodward 



Bros. Natal B. p. 105 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 250 [Mashona- 



land] ; Alexander, ibid. p. 427 [Zambesi] . 

 " Isigopamuti " {i.e., pecker of wood) of the Zulus (Francis) ; probably 

 applied to other woodpeckers as well. 



Description. Adult male. — Forehead and front part of the crown 

 olive spotted with white, hinder portion of crown crimson, nape 

 black ; back and wings olive-green, banded somewhat irregularly 

 with yellowish-white with a golden wash on the tail-coverts ; wing- 

 quills dusky-olive spotted on both webs ; tail dusky, with indistinct 

 cross bands of dull white and golden-yellow shafts ; cheeks and 

 throat white ; ear-coverts and a broad band separating the cheeks 

 and throat, black ; breast, under wing-coverts and rest of lower 

 surface dusky-green barred with whitish ; tail-quills golden-yellow 

 below. 



Iris dark wine colour (sometimes hazel) ; bill greenish-grey ; 

 legs and feet greyish- olive. 



Length about 8-75 ; wing 5-0 ; tail 2-5 ; culmen 1'35 ; tarsus 0-85. 



In the female the fore part of the crown is black, spotted with 

 white, the hinder part and occiput black ; there is no appreciable 

 difference in size. A female obtained by Alexander in the Zambesi 

 valley had some of the feathers of the crown tipped with scarlet ; 

 it was, perhaps, a very old bird. 



Distribution. — The Bearded Woodpecker is stated by Lichten- 

 stein to have come from Namaqualand, whence its name, but it 

 has not been found south of the Orange river in modern times. 

 Levaillant, on the other hand, states that he obtained it in 

 Caffraria. 



