XYNGIPICUS SEMCORONATUS.
IYNGIPICUS SEMICORONATUS .
Darjiling* Pygmy Woodpecker.
Picus pygmaus, old bird, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 197 (1845, nee Vigors).
Pirns semicoronatus, Malherbe, Bull. Soc. d’Hist. Nat. Metz, 1848, p. 21.—Id. Monogr. Picid. i. p. 148, pi. xxxiv.
fig. 8 (1861).—Sundev. Consp. A y . Picin. [p. 27, no, 76 (1866).—Gray, List Picidse Brit. Mus. p. 40
(1868).—Id. Hand-1. B. u. p. 184, no. 8584 (1870).
Picus ruh-icatus, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xviii. p. 804 (1849).—Id. C a t B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 63, no. 299 (1849)—.
Reichb. Handb. Picime, p. 373 (1854).
Ymgipicus semicoronatus, Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zygod. p. 8 (1854).
Yungipicus rubricatus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 276 (1862).—Bulger, Ibis, 1869, p. 156.—Jerd. Ibis, 1872, p. 8. Hume
and Oates, Str. F. 1875, p. 60.—Hume, Str. F. 1879, p. 87.
Baopipo semicoronatus, Cab. et Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 54 (1863).
Iyngipicus semicoronatus, Hargitt, Ibis, 1882, p. 25.
I t will be seen by the above synonymy that Blyth at first supposed this species to be the old bird of I. p y gm a u s;
but four years later, during a revision o f the genus, he concluded that the perfect red coronet, which he had
previously considered to be a sign of old age, really indicated a distinct specific character, and he therefore
named the bird P . rubricatus. It so happened, however, that Malherbe had fully described the species in
the previous year as P . semicoronatus, which name therefore has precedence over that given by Blyth.
There are two species which stand alone in the possession of a red hand on the occiput, viz. the present
bird and another called P . meniscus by Malherbe. The latter is a species unknown to ornithologists
since Malherbe’s time; but it differs in having the central tail-feathers spotted with white, whereas in
I. semicoronatus the four central tail-feathers, as well as the upper tail-coverts, are entirely black.
Dr. Jerdon states that the present species is not very rare in Nepal and Sikhim. As Mr. Hargitt has
pointed out, however, no specimens from the former country are contained in Mr. Hodgson’s series in
the British Museum; so that Jerdon must have had some further authority for giving Nepal as a habitat
of the species. It doubtless occurs to the westward, as Mr. Hargitt has identified a specimen from Jeypoor
in Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay’s collection as belonging to the present species. Jerdon states that it is found
in Northern Cachar, and Mr. Chennell collected it in the North Khasia hills, while Colonel Godwin-Austen
obtained specimens in the Naga hills.
The Plate gives a representation o f a pair of birds, the male being the right-hand figure, and the female
the left. Both are of the natural size.
[R. B. S.]