HEMICERCUS CORDATUS, jerdon. 



(Heart-spotted Woodpecker.) 



Hemicercus cordatus, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xi. p. 211 (1840).— Id. 111. Ind. Orn. pi. xl. (1847).— Gray, Gen. B. ii. 



p. 437 (1845).— Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. v. p. 175 (1863).— Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 191, no. 8669 



(1870). 

 Micropicus canente, Malh. Monogr. Picid. i. p. 190, pi. 42. fig. 2 (1861). 

 Hemicercus canente, Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 280 (1862). 

 Pirns canente, var. occidentalis, Sundev. Consp. A v. Picin. p. 11 (1866). 



The Heart-spotted Woodpeeker of Southern India, on which the late Dr. Jerdon bestowed the name of 

 cordatus, cannot be considered more than a small race of the true H. canente of Burmah and Tenasserim, as 

 has been remarked by Mr. Hume, whose words I quote below. The character of the dimensions, however, 

 appears to be very constant, so that at present it is well to keep them distinct. Dr. Jerdon writes : — " This 

 curious little Woodpecker is found in the forests of Malabar, above and below the Ghats. I have lately 

 found it in forests in the Chanda district, south-east of Nagpore." 



It is evident to me, as, indeed, it must be to every ornithologist, that both sexes are represented in the 

 accompanying plate ; but none of the specimens in my collection has the sex marked, and it is impossible 

 for me to say which is the male and which the female. From what I know of other Woodpeckers, I should 

 say that the female is the bird with the spotted crown ; and this Dr. Jerdon assigned to the hen bird, and 

 that excellent ornithologist Professor Sundevall also concurs in this determination. But I must here 

 draw attention to the note on this subject recently published by Mr. Hume, which explains the matter 

 fully, and needs no comment of mine, as it is a question which can only be settled by observers in the East :-— 



" Our Indian H. cordatus, Jerdon, is apparently little else than a diminutive race of this species, with less 

 white upon the wing and more marked white spotting on the forehead and crown of the male. In our 

 Indian bird a fine male has the wing 375 ; bill at front 075 ; tarsus about 06. 



" A similar H. canente has the wing 3*9 ; bill at front 09 ; tarsus 075. And here it may be as well to 

 draw attention to the fact that in the Indian bird Dr. Jerdon says that the male has the forehead and top of 

 the head light whitish yellow, and the female differs from the male in having the forehead and head black 

 with minute whitish spots. Now I cannot speak with certainty as to the Indian birds, because, though I 

 have a large series chiefly from the Malabar coast, the majority are not from reliable collectors ; but in 

 regard to the present species (H. canente), Mr. Davison has recently carefully sexed some twenty specimens, 

 in all of which the adult males had the head black with minute white specks, while the female had the cap 

 yellowish white, thus exactly reversing what Jerdon records of the Indian birds. Jerdon certainly knew the 

 birds thoroughly, and must have shot scores, and it is just possihle that this very curious difference between 

 these two nearly allied races may exist; but I think that probably this has been a mere slip of the pen. 



" As to H. canente there is no possible doubt. Besides these adults we procured several young males, 

 some quite similar to the females, and others showing the black feathers superseding the yellow in the 

 crown." 



The following description is that of a pair of birds in my collection from Malabar : — 



Adult male (?). — Crown of head creamy white ; the occiput and nape, which are crested, as well as a line 

 drawn from the base of the bill enclosing the eye and the ear-coverts, black. The adjoining plumes of the 

 sinciput creamy white with black centres ; interscapulary plumes creamy white, spotted with black, the 

 mantle nearly concealed by the overhanging scapular feathers, which are black ; lower back greyish black, 

 the feathers tipped with deep black; rump creamy white; upper tail coverts black, some of them creamy 

 white at base and tipped with the latter colour also ; wing-coverts creamy white, the median series with 

 broad subterrninal spot of black, the greater series black with a narrow ending of creamy white ; quills 

 black, the innermost secondaries creamy white with concealed spots of black as well as a broad subterrninal 

 bar of the same ; tail black ; cheeks, sides of neck, and entire throat creamy white with a strong yellow 

 tinge ; rest of under surface greyish washed with olive, and inclining to blackish on the lower flanks, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts creamy white. Total length 5*2 inches, culmen 08, wing 

 3-45, tail 17, tarsus 07. 



Female (?). — Similar in most respects to the male, but having the forehead and crown black, very 

 minutely dotted with white. Total length 5'4 inches, culmen 0'95, wing 37, tail 1*6, tarsus 075. 



Dr. Jerdon further remarks that " on the centre of the back is a brush of dark sap-green bristly feathers 

 smeared with a viscid secretion from the gland beneath." 



The figures, which are life-sized, are drawn from the foregoing examples. 



