192 
CHEYSOCOLAPTES FESTIVITS. 
6*1 in the wing, bill to gape 2 - 2 ; another from the North-west Provinces, in the national collection, 6 1, the bill 
to gape 2-2 ; a female from the same locality 6 - 3, bill to gape 2' 15, height at base 0*5. Mr. Ball records a male 
from. Chota Nagpur as 6-3, and a female 6'1. The Baipoor specimen has the forehead all white, the feathers 
having black bases, and the crimson of the crown and crest is deeper than in my southern Ceylon example. 
Distribution. — This is one of our rarest Woodpeckers, for though it is not uncommon in one or two 
districts, yet the localities that it has been hitherto known to frequent are few and far between. The first 
examples procured in the island were sent to Lord Walden in 1865, and were a male and female, obtained in 
a locality called Coearry, the whereabouts of which I have been unable to determine ; but Mr. Holdsworth is 
of opinion that the birds were shot somewhere in the north-west of the island, as they were part of a collection 
made not far from Aripu. Further south, in the forests between Puttalam and the Seven Korales, it is, I am 
informed by Mr. Parker, not unfrequent, he having seen more than a dozen specimens in the jungles round 
Uswewa. I have never met with it but once, and that was on the K i rindc Ganga, a lew miles tiom Tissa 
Maha Rama, in the south-east of Ceylon. I there procured a male of a pair which I saw in March 18/2. The 
species should be looked for by future collectors in the forest on the banks of the Kattregama-oya, Koom- 
bookam Aar, and other rivers of the Park country, as this district is one which abounds in Woodpeckers. 
Mr. Parker procured a male near Uswewa in February 1876, and another in July 1877. 
In India the Black-backed Woodpecker has a tolerably wide distribution. Jerdon remarks of it that it 
is “ found in various districts of the peninsula and Central India, being rare in most parts and common in a 
few localities.” He found it in the Eastern Ghats, in parts of Mysore, between Bangalore and the Nilgliiris, 
in the Vindhyan Mountains near Mhow, and in the hilly and jungly districts of Nagpore, between that and 
the Ncrbudda. Referring to our excellent Indian journal, ‘ Stray Feathers/ we find Mr. Bourdillon omitting 
it in his Travancore list, and likewise Mr. Fairbank from the Palani-hills birds. Jerdon also states that it is 
not found in the Malabar forests ; and therefore its place would seem to be taken in these regions by the 
common species C. delesserti, the above-mentioned districts all lying to the north of latitude 10°. In Chota 
Nagpur, Mr. Ball met with it on one occasion in the Palamow subdivision, and again in the Satpura hills. 
From the Central Provinces I have an example mentioned above ; and to the north-west of this district, besides 
inhabiting the Vindhyan mountains, it is found in the Sambhur-Lake region, concerning its distribution in 
which Mr. Hume writes, “ Dr. King shot this species in the jungles at the foot of Aboo. I got it in similar 
jungles further up the Aravallis; and Adam obtained it again near Koochamun, which is near the north-west 
extremity of the SambhurLake. It is quite foreign to the plains region (Guzerat), and is unknown in Sindh 
Cutch, Kattiawar, and Jodhpoor.” 
It was originally, as its name implies, sent from the Goa district, near which it has also been procured in 
the southern Mahratta country. 
Habits. — This species frequents forest and jungle-clad country like the last, and is similar to it in its 
o-eneral habits. It is found working on the trunks of both large and small trees, and is very active in its 
movements, appearing likewise, from my small experience of it, to be shy in its nature. The note which I 
heard it utter was a weaker trill than that of Layard’s Woodpecker, and much resembled the voice of the little 
Mahratta Woodpecker. I am indebted to Mr. Parker for several notes on its habits, one of which relates to 
its erv, which he says is not so loud nor so prolonged as that of Brachypternus ceylonus ; it would therefore 
seem to have two distinct calls, like this last-mentioned and other species. One of his specimens was shot in 
the act of fighting with the Common Red Woodpecker for the possession of a hole for (I presume) breeding- 
purposes. He writes me that they frequently fight with this species, whose aggressive propensities necessitate 
it ■ he thinks that the great numbers of Brachypternus ceylonus in the north-western forests may perhaps prevent 
the Black-backed Woodpecker from spreading over the country, for these latter have “ to fight pretty nearly 
every day before tliey can call their house their own, and must find their life a burden to them. W ith their 
powerful bills ” (he remarks) “ and well-formed muscular bodies, they are more than a match for the Red 
Woodpeckers; but the latter do not hesitate to attack them, when the two species chance to meet in the same 
tree.” The stomach of an example he shot contained insects and seeds, two of which latter were as large as 
pBas. Mr. Ball saw one of them feeding on the ground where jungle and grass had recently been burnt, and 
