54 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
red ; f orehead_, crown_, nape and occipital crest deep crimson ; hind neck 
mottled with black and white ; back, scapulars, wing-coverts and tertiaries 
shining golden yellow, the edges of the feathers of a deeper colour ; lower 
back and rump crimson ; upper tail-coverts and tail black ; primary- coverts 
and primaries blackish, the inner webs of the latter with white spots; 
secondaries chiefly golden yellow on the outer webs, brown barred with 
white on the inner ; lores dusky ; a white streak from the eye over the 
ear-coverts, another one from the lores under the eyes and ear-coverts ; 
two black stripes, one from the gape and another from the side of the 
gonys, uniting and running down the side of the throat, the space between 
these two lines Avhite; chin and throat white with a narrow mesial 
black line ; ear-coverts black ; fore neck white, the feathers edged with 
black j lower plumage fulvous -white, each feather edged with black, the 
edgings becoming less distinct on the abdomen and more broken on 
the vent and under tail- coverts ; under wing-coverts white barred with 
brown. 
The female differs in having the forehead, crown, nape and occipital 
crest black, each feather with a round white spot at the tip. 
Iris pinkish yellow ; eyelids dark slaty brown ; bill bluish brown ; legs 
greenish blue ; claws horn-colour. 
Length 13 inches, tail 4*5, wing 6*4, tarsus 1-2, bill from gape 2*2. The 
female is of about the same size. These are the dimensions of an average 
Burmese bird. 
It does not seem possible to separate this form of Woodpecker into three 
or even two species. Birds from all parts are alike in coloration, and 
nothing but size is left for their separation. Mr. Hume has worked out 
the question of size so carefully that I prefer to adopt his figures, the more 
as he has had a much larger series of birds under observation than I have 
been able to examine. Beginning with the Malay peninsula, Mr. Hume 
records the lengths of the wings of two male birds, the only two apparently 
obtained in that part, as 6*15 and 6* 3 inches respectively. He gives the 
wings of Burmese birds as varying from 6*08 to 6*7 inches, and those of 
the Northern-Indian birds (the true C. sultaneus) as from 6*7 to 7*45 inches. 
The Southern-Indian birds have wings varying from 5'85 to 6*3 inches. 
The bills of all vary in much the same ratio as the wings. This bird 
exhibits all those variations in size which are displayed in Dissemurus 
paradiseus (vol. i. p. 225) ; and the only satisfactory way of dealing with 
such birds appears to me to be to unite all the races, large and small, under 
one name. 
The Golden-backed Woodpecker is found over every portion of British 
Burmah, except on the higher mountains. 
It extends north through the Indo-Burmese countries into India, and is 
spread over the greater part of that peninsula. To the south it is found in 
