58 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
and pine- apple gardens which surround that town. It feeds largely on 
those ants which construct hanging nests in trees^ and its plumage is 
. generally much smeared with the honey-like matter found in these struc- 
tures. Mr. Gammie discovered that these Woodpeckers actually lay their 
eggs in holes bored in these ants^ nests^ the rightful owners being driven 
away or^ more probably, eaten up. For Woodpeckers this species is 
remarkably silent,, seldom uttering a note, and creeping about in a very 
quiet stealthy way. 
450. MICROPTERNUS BRACHYURUS. 
THE MALAYAN RUFOUS WOODPECKER. 
Picus brachyurus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d^Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 103. Picus squami- 
gularis, Sundev. Consp. Av. Pic. p. 89. Micropternus brachyurus, Hume, 
8. F. V. p. 481 ; Hume ^Uav. S. F. vi. p. 145; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 88. 
Description. — Male. Similar in general appearance to M. phceoceps, but 
much smaller; the black bars on the tail broader; the chin_, throat and 
cheeks blackish^ broadly and conspicuously margined with whitish ; the 
head less brown and more of the colour of the back. 
Ti^Q female differs in wanting the crimson tips to the feathers under and 
behind the eye. 
Length about 8 inches, tail 2'6j wing 4*5, tarsus 'S, bill from gape 1*1. 
These are the measurements of a male bird from the island of Salanga 
collected by Capt. Weber. 
I follow Mr. Hume in identifying the small Tenasserim race of this bird 
with M. brachyurus^ Vieill. It is quite distinct in size and coloration from 
the bird met with in Pegu and other parts of Burmah. M. badiosus, from 
Borneo^ may be recognized by the male having the feathers all round the 
eye tipped with crimson_, by being still smaller than M. brachyurus (wing 
about 4-2 inches)^ by having the margins of the feathers of the chin and 
throat narrow and indistinct_, and by having the tail nearly entirely black. 
M. fokiensis, from China^ appears to be characterized by its deeper colour 
and by the abdomen being brown, not rufous. 
The Malayan Rufous Woodpecker is found in Tenasserim from Mergui 
southwards to Malewoon. It extends down the Malay peninsula to 
Singapore, and, according to Dr. Tiraud, it is the species which is found 
in Cochin China ; but he does not seem certain about the identification of 
his birds with M. brachyurus apud Hume. 
