52 
BIRDS OF BKITISH BUKMAH. 
446. GECINUS ERYTHROPYOIUS. 
THE RED-RUMPED GREEN WOODPECKER. 
Gecinus erythropygius, Elliot, Nouv. Arch. i. Bull p. 76, pi. iii. ; Oates, S. F. x. 
p. 191. Gecinus erythropygius, Wardlmv Ramsay, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 212, 
pi. XXXV. (descr. orig.). Gecinus nigrigenis, Hume, Proc. A. 8. B. 1874, 
p. 106; Hume, S. F. ii. pp. 444, 471 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 136; Hume, 
S. F. viii. p. 87 ; Bingham, 8. F. ix. p. 163, 
Description. — Male. Forehead^ lores^ the feathers round the eyes^ cheeks, 
ear-coverts and nape black ; crown crimson ; back, wing-coverts, and upper 
tail-coverts bright yellowish green ; rump fiery red ; tail black, washed 
with green on the edges near the base ; wings black ; the primaries with 
white bars on the outer webs ; all the quills except the last tertiary or two 
with broad white bars on the inner webs ; the secondaries with the greater 
portion of the outer webs green ; the tertiaries with the outer webs and a 
broad tip green ; chin, throat, fore neck, sides of the neck and breast deep 
yellow ; remainder of the lower plumage ashy brown, with irregular cross 
bars of greenish brown. 
The female differs only in wanting the crimson on the crown, the 
whole of which is black. 
Young males have the red on the head very dull and small in extent. 
Bill dark horny ; irides sulphur-yellow ; legs and feet dark green ; claws 
horny. [Bingham.) 
Length 13 inches, tail 5*2, wing 6'3, tarsus 1*2, bill from gape 1*7. The 
female is of about the same size. 
Some few birds, both males and females, have a narrow yellow line from 
the eye over the ear-coverts ; these seem to me to constitute a distinct 
species, for the Woodpeckers of this genus are not, as far as I know, liable 
to such variations of plumage. I am, however, unwilling, with the scanty 
information at my command, to bestow a name on the bird without the 
eye-streak ; for, if distinct, it will certainly require to be named. Mr. 
Elliotts name applies to the streaked bird ; Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay's name 
applies to both, he considering that the streaked bird was the male and 
the unstreaked one the female ; and Mr. Hume^s name also applies to 
both. 
Out of fifteen specimens in Mr. Hargitt^s collection three have the eye- 
streak, and in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay^s series two out of ten are so marked. 
In Mr. Hume^s museum one in ten appears to be the average of marked 
birds. 
I think it will be found hereafter that these birds constitute two species. 
In no case, however, do I see any reason for considering Mr. Hume^s eye- 
