TAB. XLVILI. 
PICUS OCCIPITALIS. 
Mas. Pre. viridis, uropygro lutescenti; fronte coccineo ; vertice, strigd lata occipitali ad 
nucham eaxtendente, alteraque utringue sub oculos postrictah, atris; remigibus rectricibus- 
que fusco atris, harum duabus medits pallido-fusco striatis, illis eaterné albo maculatis ; 
gula genisque canis. 
Fem. Fronte atré albo lineata. 
Longitudo corporis, 12 unc.; ale, 6; rostri, 2; tarsi, 1+; caude, 42. 
Tuere appears to be a natural group of the Woodpeckers, intermediate betwixt the genus Colaptes whose 
habits confine them entirely to the ground, and the typical Picide who gain their subsistence almost wholly 
from the bark of trees. In this intermediate division—of which our own Picus viridis and the Picus canus of 
the Continent may be considered as the types, and which are the only species found in Europe—the present 
as well as the succeeding Himalayan species may be classed ; all these birds being found, like the typical 
Woodpeckers, to frequent trees as a resort for food; while at the same time they equally subsist, like the 
ground-feeding species, on ants and other insects, which they obtain on the surface of the ground. 
The Picus oceipitaks, so named from the peculiar black mark on the hinder part of the head, has hitherto 
been entirely unknown, and it is only in the more temperate parts of the mountains so often alluded to, that 
it has as yet been captured. 
In the male the forehead is bright scarlet ; the top of the head, occiput and back of the neck, are jet 
black ; the sides of the face and throat grey, with the exception of a slight black moustache ; the upper 
surface is of a dull green passing into yellow on the rump; the wings olive green; the quills and tail are 
brown, the former having their outer edges barred with white, the latter its two middle feathers obscurely 
barred with a deeper brown ; the breast and under parts are dull greenish grey ; the bill and tarsi black. 
The female differs only in having the forehead black instead of scarlet. 
The male is figured of the natural size. The head of the female is alone given, showing the difference of 
plumage above alluded to. 
