MEGAL2EMA ZEYLANICA. 
209 
Megalcema zeylanica, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, pp. 297, 311 ; Marshall, Mon. Capitonidse, pi. 40 
(i871). 
Le Kottorea , Leva ill. Barbus, pi. 38 ; Le Cabezon koitorea, Yieill. N. Diet. dHist. Nat. 
The Large Barhet , Kelaart ; Woodpecker , Europeans in Ceylon. 
Kotoruwa (so called from its note), Sinhalese; Kootoor, Ceylonese Tamils; Kootooroo, 
Portuguese in Ceylon. 
Similis M. canicipiti, sed minor et eapite et collo postico brunnescentioribus, et striis medianis minus conspicuis : 
tectricum alarum maculis pallidis minus conspicuis. 
Adult male and female. Length 9-5 to 10-0 inches ; wing 4-2 to 4-5 ; tail 2-5 to 2'7 ; tarsus 1‘2 ; outer anterior toe 
and claw 1T5 ; posterior outer toe IT ; bill to gape 1‘6 to 1*8. 
Iris reddish brown, with a pale outer circle, sometimes brownish buff ; bill dull orange or fleshy red; legs and feet 
sickly yellow or pale olivaceous yellow ; orbital skin dull yellow. 
Bristles round the bill black ; head, hind neck, throat, and chest umber-brown, passing on the lower part of hind neck 
into the grass-green of the back, wings, and tail ; the brown parts with pale strife, yellowish and most conspicuous 
on the lower part of hind neck, throat, and chest ; wing-coverts with yellowish terminal spots; some of the 
tertials and rump-feathers with an occasional wash of bluish ; outer primaries brown, with yellowish-grey edgings 
towards the tips ; inner webs ot' remaining quills brown, with pale yellowish inner margins ; chin obscure slaty 
grey (this hue not always discernible) ; ear-coverts brownish yellow ; beneath, from the chest, light green, paling 
gradually into the brown of that part ; under wing-coverts yellowish, tinged with greenish ; under surface of 
tail bluish. 
Younq The young quickly assume the plumage of the adult, being at first paler about the head and hind neck. 
A youim female with the wing measuring 4-1 inches, in my collection, has the head, face, and hind neck pale brown, 
with the strife whitish, in which colour they are continued to the green feathers of the interscapular region ; the 
throat and fore neck are paler brown than the head, with the strife whitish and blending gradually into the ground- 
colour ; upper breast very slightly suffused with green. This example might well pass for a small specimen of 
M. caniceps. 
Ohs. This species is verv closely allied to its representative in Central and Southern India, some specimens being 
scarcely separable were it not for their constantly smaller size. The wing in this Barhet, Megalcema caniceps, 
varies from 4-6 to 4-9 inches, the average length being, I imagine, about 4-75. It has the head, hind neck, and 
throat paler than in M. zeylanica, the stripes are broader and are continued down on to the interscapular region ; 
the wing-coverts have the pale central spots more pronounced. 
Megalcema viridis, from Malabar, Travancore, and other Southern-Indian hill-districts, is very nearly related to the last 
mentioned, but is smaller than it and less even than the Ceylonese bird. The wing varies from 3-7 to 4-4 inches. 
Jerdon’s description of it is “ Very similar to Meg. caniceps, but smaller, the brown of the head and nape scarcely 
lineated ; that of the under parts pale, becoming whitish on the throat ; there are no pale specks on the wing- 
coverts, nor any traces of pale streaks on the green of the back.” Another species from Southern India is the 
Megalcema inornata, Walden, which was, until lately, confounded with M. caniceps. It is readily distinguished 
from that species by the “ absence of the broad pale median streaks on the pectoral plumage. It has the chin, 
throat, breast, and upper portion of the abdominal region uniform pale brown ; each feather has the shaft very 
faintly paler. The plumage above closely resembles that of M. canicepis ; but the terminal spots on the wing-coverts 
and tertiaries are almost altogether wanting.” In the uniformity of the throat it differs from all other Barbets. 
Distribution . — This noisy well-known bird, commonly called a “ Woodpecker ” or “ W oodcutter ” by the 
Eurasian population and many Europeans, is very abundant in most parts of the low country, except close to 
the seashore or in large tracts of damp forest such as clothe much of the face of the southern half of the 
island. It is likewise an inhabitant of the Kandyan Province up to an altitude of about 2500 or 3000 feet in 
the western and northern parts, and to about 4000 feet in the drier district of Uva. Those parts in which 
it is numerous are the cultivated portions of the west and south-west, parts of the Eastern Province (in which 
it is locally distributed), portions of the flat forest-clad country lying between Lemastota and the S.E. coast, 
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