1845.] or little known species of Birds. 193 



green ; head and neck light yellowish-green, paler and browner towards 

 the beak, and the crown of the male only, dull crimson. Bill white, 

 with some dusky at the base of both mandibles ; and feet apparently 

 dark slaty. Hab. Darjeeling, and the mountain ranges of Assam. 



Of the subgenus Tiga, Kaup, three allied species exist, which have 

 never been yet properly distinguished. 



l.P.fTJ Shorei, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 175 ; Gould's < Century/ 

 pi. XLIX. Distinguished by its superior size, the wing measuring six 

 inches long ; by the crimson of the rump spreading over, or rather 

 tinging, more usually the entire back (more or less) ; and by the 

 elongated pale central streaks of the coronal and occipital feathers of 

 the female, these streaks being continued nearly throughout the feather, 

 and anteriorly often spreading over the whole feather, so that the fore- 

 head becomes almost plain light brown. In one female before me, 

 there are also some intermixed crimson feathers on the occiput, which I 

 have never seen in either of the other species : but whether these are of 

 constant occurrence I do not know, and another female in the Soci- 

 ety's museum is unfortunately deficient of feathers just at this part. Inha- 

 bits the sub- Himalayan region, as well as the hill ranges of peninsular 

 India ; but I have never seen it from the eastward of the Bay of Bengal. 



2. P. (T.) intermedins, nobis. Exactly midway between the two 

 others ; the whitish on the coronal feathers of the female forming very 

 elongated spots, rather than central streaks ; and the back above the 

 rump not usually suffused with crimson. Wing five inches and a 

 half to five and three-quarters long. Common in Nepal, Assam, 

 Sylhet, Tipperah, Arracan, and Tenasserim ; and the only kind which 

 I have seen from those parts, Nepal excepted. 



3. P. (T.J tridactyla^ (Sw.) Strickland ; Picus tiga, Horsfield. 

 Wing but four inches and seven-eighths, to five inches and one-eighth, 

 long : and the whitish spots on the head of the female very much 

 contracted, tending indeed to become obsolete, and their form a 

 lengthened oval, narrow and minute. The bill to gape in P. Shorei 

 measures an inch and three-quarters, in P. intermedins one and a 

 half, and in P. tridactyla one and a quarter ; in a young female of P. 

 tridactyla before me, scarcely one and one- eighth. The specimens 

 described are from Malacca, and are of the only size that I have 

 hitherto seen from the Malay countries. Dr. Horsfield, however, gives 

 the length of his P. tiga as eight inches and a half; whereas Raffles 



