984. Micropternus brachyurus.
The Malay Rufous Woodpecker.
Picus brachyurus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvi, p. 103 (1818). Picus badius, Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 289 (1822). Micropternus badius, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xiv, p. 194 ; id. Cat. p. 61: Horsf. & M. Cat. ii, p. 666 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 319. Micropternus brachyurus, Hume, S. F. v, p. 481 ; id. Cat. no. 178 bis; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 145; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 58; Hargitt, Ibis, 1885, p. 10; id. Cat. B. M. xviii, p. 396.
This is very similar to M. phaeoceps, but distinguished by being smaller, by the crown not being as a rule darker than the back, by the central portions of the pale-edged feathers of the chin, throat, and malar region being much darker than the breast, and by the black bars on the upper surface, and especially on the lower plumage, being more developed, and those on the tail-feathers broader. Most Tenasserim birds, except from south of Tavoy, are intermediate between M. brachyurus and M. phaeoceps.
Length about 8 ; tail 2.3; wing 4.5 ; tarsus .85; bill from gape 1.
Distribution. The Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java, extending north into Tenasserim, where this Woodpecker appears to pass into M. phaeoceps.
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