IYNGIPICUS SEMICORONATUS. 



Darjiling* Pyg-my Woodpecker. 



Picus pygmaus, old bird, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 197 (1845, nee Vigors). 



Picus semicoronatus, Malherbe, Bull. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. Metz, 1848, p. 21.— Id. Monogr. Picid. i. p. 148, pi. xxxiv. 



fig. 8 (1861).— Sundev. Consp. Av. Picin. 'p. 27, no. 76 (1866).— Gray, List Picidge Brit. Mus. p. 40 



(1868).— Id. Hand-1. B. ii. p. 184, no. 8584 (1870). 

 Picus rulricatus, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xviii. p. 804 (1849).— Id. Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 63, no. 299 (1849).— 



Reichb. Handb. Picinse, p. 373 (1854). 

 Yungipicus semicoronatus, Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zygod. p. 8 (1854). 

 Yungipicus rulricatus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 276 (1862).— Bulger, Ibis, 1869, p. 156.— Jerd. Ibis, 1872, p. 8.— Hume 



and Oates, Str. F. 1875, p. 60.— Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 87. 

 Baopipo semicoronatus, Cab. et Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 54 (1863). 

 Iyngipicus semicoronatus. Hargitt, Ibis, 1882, p. 25. 



It will be seen by the above synonymy that Blyth at first supposed this speeies to be the old bird of I.pygmceus ; 

 but four years later, during a revision of the genus, he concluded that the perfect red coronet, which he had 

 previously considered to be a sign of old age, really indicated a distinct specific character, and he therefore 

 named the bird P. rubneatus. It so happened, however, that Malherbe had fully described the species in 

 the previous year as P. semicoronatus, which name therefore has precedence over that given by Blyth. 



There are two species which stand alone in the possession of a red band on the occiput, viz. the present 

 bird and another called P. meniscus by Malherbe. The latter is a species unknown to ornithologists 

 since Malherbe's time; but it differs in having the central tail-feathers spotted with white, whereas in 

 7. semicoronatus the four central tail-feathers, as well as the upper tail-coverts, are entirely black. 



Dr. Jerdon states that the present species is not very rare in Nepal and Sikhim. As Mr. Hargitt has 

 pointed out, however, no specimens from the former country are contained in Mr. Hodgson's series in 

 the British Museum; so that Jerdon must have had some further authority for giving Nepal as a habitat 

 of the species. It doubtless occurs to the westward, as Mr. Hargitt has identified a specimen from Jeypoor 

 in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's collection as belonging to the present species. Jerdon states that it is found 

 in Northern Cachar, and Mr. Chennell collected it in the North Khasia hills, while Colonel Godwin-Austen 

 obtained specimens in the Naga hills. 



The Plate gives a representation of a pair of birds, the male being the right-hand figure, and the female 

 the left. Both are of the natural size. 



[R. B. S.] 



