IYNGIPICUS PENINSULARIS, Hargitt. 



Travancore Pygmy Woodpecker. 



Picas nanus, Malherbe (nee Vigors), Monogr. Picid. p. 145, pi. xxxiii. figs. 1-5 (1861). — Sundevall, Consp. Av. 



Picin. p. 28 (1866).— Gray, Cat. Picidse Brit. Mus. p. 42 (1868).— id. Hand-1. B. ii. p. 184, no. 8579 



(1870). 

 Picus gymnophthalmus, auct. ex India (nee Blyth) ; Bourdillon, Str. F. 1876, p. 389. 

 Iyngipicus peninsularis, Hargitt, Ibis, 1882, p. 48. 



Although very closely allied to I. gymnophthalmus of Ceylon, the present species seems nevertheless 

 to be positively distinct, and to have the top of the head brown instead of black, with the occiput 

 shading off into a darker shade. The underparts in adult birds are perfectly uniform as in I. gymnophthalmus, 

 but many specimens exhibit traces of dusky stripes, which we believe to be indications of immaturity. At 

 the time of writing the 'Birds of India,' Dr. Jerdon does not seem to have been certain of the 

 occurrence of a form of 7. gymnophthalmus on the peninsula of India; but in 'The Ibis ' for 1872 he 

 states that one occurs in the extreme south of Malabar and Travancore, and Mr. Hume, in 1875, records 

 it from the Malabar coast as well as Ceylon. It has also been included by Mr. F. W. Bourdillon 

 in his list of the birds of the Travancore hills, in which locality, he writes, " it lives in the tops of 

 trees, and is as difficult to observe as to shoot." 



In the British Museum are some specimens stated to be from Madras ; but, as in the case of so many of 

 the older collections, the exact locality is not given. 



The figures in the Plate are drawn of the natural size. [R. B. S.] 



