Iyngipicus ramsayi Hargitt, Ibis (1881), 598; Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1890), 18, 334; Guillemard, P. Z. S. (1885), 254,
pl. 17; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 220.
Yungipicus ramsayi McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 65.
Bongao (Everett); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi
(Bourns & Worcester).
Male.--Above earthy brown; white bars mostly wanting except on inner
webs of quills; rump white; no well-defined spots or stripes on breast
and abdomen; breast with a strong wash of saffron-yellow; sides and
abdomen dirty white, faintly streaked with dusky brown. A male from
Tawi Tawi measures: Wing, 81; tail, 47; culmen from base, 18.
Female.--Similar to the male but with no red on the head. A female
from Sulu measures: Wing, 84; tail, 42; culmen from base, 18.
"The younger female has some indistinct spots of pale brown upon
the inner webs of the four central rectrices. 'Iris brown; bill
slate-black; tarsus olive-green.' (Guillemard.)" (Hargitt.)
"Very abundant about dead trees in open fields both in Sulu and Tawi
Tawi. Seven males from Sulu average, 136 in length; wing, 84; tail, 34;
culmen, 20; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 17. Three females from
same place, length, 142; wing, 81; tail, 37; culmen, 17; tarsus, 15;
middle toe with claw, 17. Iris dark brown to brownish red; legs and
feet olive-brown, nails nearly black; bill black at tip, ashy gray
at base." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus TIGA Kaup, 1836.
Three toes, two in front, one behind; bill much smaller and weaker
than in Chrysocolaptes; culmen curved; nostrils situated near the
culmen, nasal ridge weak; occipital crest full.