THE MALAYAN RtTFOUS WOODPECKEB 
Micro pic rmts b rachy u rus sq tt am igu larts {Su nd ev ,) 
Description: — The differences between the sexes are 
trivial and both cock and hen are entirely dull nifous, barred 
on the back, wings and tail and abdomen with black; in fact 
this bird is quite unlike any other local woodpecker. 
The bea.k and feet are slaty in colour. 
The total lengfth about 8 inchest wing 4§ inches. 
D'tsirthitton:—LocsL[ races are common in the Malay 
Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo and the bird as a species 
ranges to the Himalayas and China. 
Status it! Smgaporv : — We cannot say much of tliis wood- 
pecker beyond mentioning that it seems to appear fairly fre- 
quently in the y;ardens. Mr. Ridley, at one time Director of 
the Botanic Gardens, writes; "But the most interesting of 
these birds is the curious red Micro pt emus brachyums. This 
bird always makes its nest in that of one of the tree-ants. The 
ants form a large black nest in a tree and the bird, which feeds 
larf^^cly on them, dig^s out a burrow and puts its own nest 
therein. It has been stated that these ants do not bite, but this 
is not the case; though small they are most vicious. The 
woodpecker nested for some years in a tree (Mimusops Elengi), 
close to my house, but the ants' nest collapsed one year, and 
the birds finding it gone on their return in the breeding season, 
went away'*. 
THE IfALAYAN PIGMY WOODPECKER 
Dryobatcs nanus auritus [Eytoni 
Description: — This is a tiny bird about the size of, or 
in bulk perhaps even smaller than, a sparrow. With the 
exception of the male which has a tiny red fleck behind the eye 
the plumage is entirely black and white. The top of the head 
is black, the underj^arts dirty white with dark streaks and the 
back and wings black with broad white bars. 
[■57] 
