26 
BIEDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Genus SASIA, Hodgs. 
422. SASIA OCHRACEA. 
THE RUFOUS PICULET. 
Sasia ochracea, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. v. p. 778 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 301 ; Hume, S. F. 
iii. p. 75 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 78 ; Hume <^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 148 ; Hume, S. F. viii. 
p. 88 ; Hargitt, Ibis, 1881, p. 231. Picumnoides ochraceus, Malh. Mon. Pic. 
ii. p. 287. Picumnoides lachrymosa (Z«/r.), Malh. Mon. Pic. ii. p. 287. 
Picumnus ochraceus, Sundev. Consp. Av. Pic. p. 106. 
Description. — Male. Forehead golden yellow ; crown and nape olive ; 
back and scapulars olive-rufons ; rnmp brighter and tinged with orange ; 
upper tail- coverts and tail black ; upper wing-coverts olive ; quills dark 
brown edged with olive^ the tertiaries tinged with the colour of the back, 
the first primary edged with whitish ; lores and feathers round the eye 
dusky ; a stripe from the eye over the ear-coverts white ; sides of the head 
and the whole lower plumage orange-rufous ; under wing-coverts yellowish 
white. 
The female difiers in having the forehead orange -rufous, not golden 
yellow. 
The young are generally like the adults, but the colours are dingy. 
Upper mandible dark brown, lower plumbeous ; mouth dusky ; eyelids 
and ophthalmic skin dusky red ; iris crimson ; legs yellowish red. 
Length 3*2 inches, tail 1, wing 2, tarsus '5, bill from gape '52. The 
female is of the same size. 
S. abnormiSj from the Malay peninsula and islands, differs chiefly in 
wanting the eye -streak. 
I procured the Rufous Piculet in the evergreen forests of the Pegu hills, 
and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay met with it on the Toughoo hills. Mr. Davison 
observed it in all parts of Tenasserim except on the higher hills. Mr. 
Blyth notes it from Arrakan. 
It occurs in Cachar and the Khasia hills and ranges in the Himalayas 
from Assam to Nipal. 
This tiny Woodpecker is found in forests climbing about bamboos and 
smaller trees and brushwood, and were it not for the loud tapping it makes 
it would seldom be noticed. It is said to breed in holes of trees, which is 
extremely probable, and it may safely be predicted that its eggs will 
prove to be white. 
