24 
BIEDS OF BKITISH BURMAH. 
distinct on the primaries, gradually merging one into the other on the 
tertiaries ; sides of the head_, throat, fore neck and breast pale buff, nar- 
rowly banded across with black ; a dark brown stripe from the eye through 
the ear-coverts and passing a little beyond them ; remainder of the lower 
plumage very pale buff irregularly banded with black, the bands interrupted 
and arrow-headed in shape on the abdomen. 
Iris hazel ; bill brown ; legs and feet greenish brown. Dr. Jerdon states 
that the iris is crimson : this may be the case at times, but generally it 
is hazel or brown. 
Length 7*5 inches, tail 3, wing 3'3, tarsus -75, bill from gape "85. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Common Wryneck is a winter visitor to Burmah, arriving in October. 
I observed it every year near Thayetmyo, and I found it very abundant 
near Pegu and Kyeikpadein. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay got it in Karennee 
both in the hills and plains, but Mr. Davison does not appear to have met 
•with it in Tenasserim. Mr. Blyth received it from Arrakan. 
It has a very extensive range. In winter it is found in Southern China, 
Burmah, the Indo-Burmese countries, the peninsula of India and west- 
wards to Africa. In summer it occurs in Europe, Central and Northern 
Asia, and to the east as far as Japan. In Cashmeer and the Himalayas 
generally it appears to be a summer visitor only, whilst to the south of 
that range of mountains it occurs only in winter. 
In Burmah the Wryneck is found in brushwood and in elephant-grass, 
about the stalks of which it creeps in search of ants ; occasionally I have 
seen it on large trees. It has a loud and well-marked note, but I do not 
remember to have ever heard it in Burmah. In Europe it nests in the 
holes of trees, laying several white eggs. 
Genus VIVIA, Hodgs, 
421* VIVIA INNOMINATA. 
THE SPECKLED PICULET. 
Picumnus innominatus, Burton, P. Z. S. 1835, p. 154 ; Malh. Mon. Pic. ii. p. 278, 
pi. cxvii. fig. 5, 6 ; Sundev. Consp. Av. Pic. p. 105. Vivia innominata, Jerd. 
B. Ind. i. p. 300 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 127 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 78 ; Humej 
S. F. V. p. 351 ; Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 148 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 88 ; Scully, 
S. F. viii. p. 250 ; Bingham, 8. F. ix. p. 165 ; Hargitt, This, 1881, p. 223. 
Description. — Male. Forehead and anterior portion of crown black, each 
