THE SOAHLET-BAOEEB FLOWEB-FEOEEB 
Dicmum cruentatum igniium (Begbie) 
Malay name : — Burong s£pa put^ri. 
Description : — The male has the top of the head and neck 
and the back bright crimson. The sides of the head and neck 
are black and the wings glossy black, (a bluish sheen can be 
seen on the wings when the bird is in the haod). The under- 
parts are creamy white washed with black on the flanks. 
The female is quite a different looking bird. She is dull 
brownish-green above and ashy and buff below, A hrijjht 
patch of colour is provided by the crimson rump and upper 
tail-coverts. 
The iris is dark brown, the bill and feet black. 
Total length about 3I iiiches; wing nearly 2 inches. 
Distribution: — ^Ignoring small differences in plumage it 
may be said that this flower-pecker is found in India, Burma, 
Southern China, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra 
and Java, ^ 
Local status: — ^Not so common as the orange-bellied 
flower-pecker but far from rare and frequenting much the 
same kind of situations as that bird. On the outlying islands 
the circumstances are reversed and igniium seems to be the 
commoner species of the two. 
Field Notes i—Wg have little to add to the remarks placed 
under this heading in the last species dealt with as they apply 
equally well to the present bird. 
Other habits : — In the absence of first-hand obscrvalion on 
the matter of the nidification of this flower-i)tcker we have 
been tempted to quote the following account written by an 
ornithologist who worked in India: — 
N3^1 
