BEACHYPTERNTT S CEYLONTJS. 
203 
, . f .1 _ n{lt - 4 -i, e feathers of the chest have white centres and broad black margins, 
W down into bars, most conspicuously on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; under tad- 
and under wing-coverts black, barred with white. 
Female. Has the forehead and crown black, with terminal, circular, white spots, the occiput and nuchal crest being 
crimson. 
r„„„. Birds o£ tie y e» hate the Ms brown , bill dart hcrn-colcur, light bluish at the base beneath, and verging 
in length from 1-2 to 1-5 inch (tip to gape). £aint |„ tipped with 
The forehead and crown in both sexes are black : the nui e end o£ tte fi rs t year, and probably by moult ; 
reddish, which colour seems to spread to the ron < < ^ white-spotted feathers appear by moult 
the female has the forehead and front of crown unmarked ■ ’ adu it the white markings being 
at the age of about four months; the face and throat broken in the centre by the 
With age the markings of the chest open out into broad white mesial stripes. 
Ob.. This species is no! rer, distant,, re, . ted to the nert beering as *£>—^7 
Jb,.« stricklandi does to the Snnth-Indt.n Ob Mm *,.. In ^‘^f^i-ltured mule of it is 
in the forests of Ceylon, there is a still greater approach to the present species, 
almost as red on the back. 
Distribution. — -This Woodpecker is the most abundant species of its family in the island, and being such 
a common bird was known to the old naturahst Forster^ exception 0 f the extreme north of the Vanni 
It is diffused throughout the entire ' ^ ^^and SoShern Provinces, and equally so in the 
and the Jaffna peninsula. It is abund k h;Us in the interior of the Eastern Province, and 
forest-clad country lying to the south of !i Tnnoom alic and in the N.W. Province. Mr. Holdsworth 
scarcely less so in the jungles between Matale an . the island of Manaar; some 
did not observe it in the Aripu further north in the Yavonia 
distance inland from Mantotte it is, I am info > Knuckles district, in Pusselawa, Nilambe, 
Yalankulam district. In the Kandyan Province it is not rare * Jn his . Prodromus/ 
Hewahette, Dimbulla, and Uva, being perhaps mos ™ne remark, doubtless, really refers 
Dr. Kelaart records it as very abundant at Nuwara for the present species, 
to Luyarfs Woodpecker, which might e\“ ~h y Tt 'shotdd no, range higher 
l"d “Lise in the' hills of the Southern Province, for it is not —on 
aW i “r “ 
r," — — *- **\-^ 
arrived collector meets with in his trips to Mount Lavima or thiough the cmnamo g 
about Kotte. 
= =safs==gH=|a;4 
and nut-stalks at the heads p ^ noJ f ig the lo f, d barsli call well known to most people m Ceylon, 
red ants ( Formica smarag i ) • searching for food ; and on many occasions I have observed a 
“ lug y 
