iy r g b p ic h js a h b i t u s .
IYNGIPICUS AURITUS.
Malayan Pygmy Woodpecker.
Petit Pic des Moluques, Daubent. PL Enl. pi. 748. fig. 2.
Le petit epeiche brim des Moluques, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. vii. p. 68.
Picus mohiccensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 439 (1788, ex Buff.).—Steph. Gen. Zool. ix. p. 178 (1815).— Vieill.
Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 86 (1818).— Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 177 (1822).—Bonn, et
Vieill. Enc. Meth. iii. p. 134 (1823).—Vigors, Mem. Raffles, p. 669 (1830).—Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 435
(1845, exclus. sym.).—B'lyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. Beng. p. 63(1849).—Bp. Gonsp. i. p. 137 (1850).—
Temm. & Scblegel, Fauna Japonica, p. 74 (1850).— Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 61 (1863).—
Gray, List Picidse Brit. Mus. p. 42 (1868).-—Id. Hand-1. B. ii. p. 184, no. 8588 (1870).
Picus minor (non Linn.), Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. iii. p. 290 (1822).
Picus variegatus (non Lath.), Wagler, Syst. Av., Picus, no. 27 (1827).—Malh. Monogr. Pieidee, i. p. 139,
pi. xxxiii. figs. 8-10 (1861).—Sundev. Consp. Av. Picin. p. 28 (1866).—Gray, List Picid. Brit. Mus.
p. 43 (1868).—Id. Hand-1. B. ii. p. 184, no. 8580 (1870)..
Tripsurus auritus, Eyton, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xvi. p. 229 (1845).
Yungipicus mohiccensis, Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 675 (18 5 4 ).—Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zygod.
p. 8 (1854).
Yungipicus auritus, Bp. Consp. Volucr. Zygod. p. 8 (1854).
Bceopipo variegata, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 54 (18 6 3 ).
Bceopipo aurita, Cab. & Heine, t. c. p. 59 (1863).
Picus auritus, Gray, List Picidse, Brit. Mus. p 41 (1868).— Id. Hand-1. B. ii. p. 183, no. 8575 (1870).
Picus sondaicus, Wall. MSS. j Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 184, no. 8589 (1870).—Wall, in Salvad. Ucc. di Borneo,
p. 43, note (1 8 7 4 j;
Iyngipicusfusco-albidus, Salvad. Ucc. Born. -p. 42 (1874).—Nicholson, Ibis, 1879 p. 165.—Sharpe, Ibis, 1879,
p. 240.
Iyngipicus auritus, Hargitt, Ibis, 1882, p. 42.
T he present species is one of the group of Pygmy Woodpeckers where the centre tail-feathers are spotted
with white, and the under surface of the body is always distinctly striated. The range appears to be strictly
Indo-Malayan, as it occurs in the Malayan Peninsula and in the islands o f Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. To
the north, in Tenasserim andBurmah, it is replaced by I . canicapillus, which, again, is represented by I. nanus
in the North-west Himalayas. In Borneo a closely allied race, / . picatus of Mr. Hargitt, occurs ; and in the
islands of Lombock and Flores its place is taken by a larger form, / . grandis o f Hargitt. It is apparent to
any one who has studied these little Woodpeckers that the birds above mentioned constitute so many races of
one form of Iyngipicus, the geographical distribution of each race, however, being tolerably clearly defined.
Nothing, as far as I am aware, has been written concerning the habits of this little species ; but they are no
doubt precisely similar to those of the allied Indian species.
The Plate represents a male and female, of the natural size, drawn from specimens lent to me by Mr. Hargitt.
[R. B. S.]