more often searching for food at a little distance from one another. It 
runs actively up the stems of the cocoanut trees, and when it has reached 
the top disappears into the head, and searches about among the roots of the 
fronds and the dead flower stalks, where there are generally numbers of ants 
to be found. It is very early astir, and when the day has scarcely dawned 
its loud note is to be heard among the cocoanut groves in the Jaffna district 
It is then very restless, flying from tree to tree before finding a suit¬ 
able quantity of ants to attack, and a considerable time elapses before it 
settles down steadily to work, vigorously tapping and listening attentively 
for the result of its morning salutation to the varied insect Inhabitants of 
the fine old tamarind or jack tree to which it has perhaps betaken Itself. 
In the forests I have seen It devoting much attention to the huge bosses 
and gnarled excrescences of the fine Koombook or mee trees which one so of¬ 
ten finds near the remote village tanks. It has a trill note, somewhat 
louder than that of bayard*s Woodpecker. 
NIDIPICATION 
I know nothing of the nesting of this species, but Layard says that it 
excavates large holes in the male palmyra trees, the wood of which is softer 
than that of the female. 
The Red Backed figure in the drawing represents the specimen presented 
to the Colombo Museum by the late Governor of Ceylon, Sir William Gregory. 
The Pale bird Is from the Jaffna Peninsula. 
