198 
CHRYSOPHLEGMA XANTHODERUS. 
saffron-yellow, richer in hue than in Ch. xanthoderus, and the wing-coverts are not so much washed with red as 
in this latter species. 
1 he female wants the red stripe across the forehead and over the eyes ; the under surface is greyish, and less washed 
with green than in C. xanthoderus. 
This Woodpecker has been styled by Jerdon and Blyth, and consequently by Layard and other writers on Ceylon 
ornithology, Chrysophle<jma chlorophanes, owing, apparently, to a mistake made by Blyth in quoting Vieillot as 
the author of the species at page 59 of his Catalogue of the Birds in the Asiatic Society’s Museum, Calcutta ; he 
there gives as a synonym of Ch. chlorophanes, “ Pirns chlorophanes, Vieillot.” Vieillot, however, gave no such 
name in his * Dictionary,’ as Malherbe remarks in his article on the present species and on Ch. Morolophus. I 
have myself examined the pages in his vol. xxvi., devoted to the Woodpeckers, and cannot find any reference to 
any other Green Woodpecker from India but that relating to the Pic d huppe verte from Bengal. * The species, 
then, in reality wanted a name until Malherbe met with specimens of it in the British Museum, sent there by 
Jerdon from South India, and described it under the above title. Blyth, by an error, quoted this name as a 
synonym of Ch. chlorolophus at page 58 of his Catalogue. 
Distribution .— The “Ground-Woodpecker" is found throughout most of the low country, except the 
northern parts, where, as far as I am able to ascertain from report and my own observation, it has not yet 
been detected. As it is, however, nowhere very abundant and is of a retiring nature, it may have been passed 
over in the north of the Vanni, and it will be for future explorers to extend its limit to that part of the 
island. It is not unfrequent near Colombo, and is diffused generally throughout the Western Province, being 
perhaps most common in parts of Saffragam and in the Raygam and Pasdun Korales. In the south-west it is 
not uncommon both in the hill-region and the wooded country lying between the “ Haycock ” and Galle. On 
the eastern side of the island I have found it in the Friars-IIood and other districts ; I met with it also in the 
Wellaway Korale, and it most likely inhabits most of the Park country between there and Batticaloa. In 
the Kandyan Province it is found in the valleys intersecting the coffee-districts, but more particularly on the 
IJva side, where I have seen it at an altitude of 4000 feet. It was not uncommon about Hunugalla, inhabiting 
the jungle on the pass down to Bibile. Kelaart says that it is not unfrequently seen at Nuwara Elliya ; but 
I know of no one else who has seen it there. 
In the south of India this Woodpecker is not uncommon. Jerdon writes that it is “ found in the forests 
of Malabar, more especially far south, as in Travail core.” In this district Mr. Bourdillon says it is very 
common ; and Mr. Fairbank obtained it in the Palani hills at a considerable elevation. It seems to b*c 
restricted to the extreme south of the peninsula; for Jerdon did not find it in the Eastern Ghats nor in Central 
India, and Mr. Fairbank does not record it from the Deccan. 
Habits .— This species affects the edges of forest and also the interior of the jungle, being partial to 
wooded ravines through which streams run, near the banks of which I have more than once met with it. It 
is also found in scattered jungle and low thickets, and may often be surprised on the ground in dense under- 
wood. But though it is found so much near the ground, tapping about the roots of trees and searching for 
food on fallen timber, it nevertheless often betakes itself to the very tallest trees of the forest, and has a habit 
of mounting up to the very topmost branch and there remaining motionless for some time, uttering its loud 
monosyllabic note, which somewhat resembles that of the Bay Woodpecker. It is when not feeding or on 
sallying out the first thing in the morning that it utters its note ; and sometimes when flying across an open 
glade or cheena, as I have noticed it in the Eastern Province, it gives out its plaintive pipe ; but otherwise 
it is not a very noisy Woodpecker. When disturbed in the thick jungle, if it be on the ground, it decamps 
from tree to tree with a loud fluttering of the wings, and clings to the trunks near the roots. When on the 
wing for any distance its flight is performed with quick beating of the wings and long intermediate jerks, by 
which it progresses with considerable speed. 
Layard writes that he has seen it on the ground “ in pairs, breaking into the dried masses of cow-dung in 
search of Coleoptera. On being alarmed it takes refuge in the nearest tree or bush, and displays all the 
arboreal activity of its tribe, climbing round the branches and evading the eye by carefully keeping on the 
opposite side of the limbs." 
Besides feeding on coleopterous insects, it is very fond of ants, with which I have found its stomach 
crammed. 
