Brown-headed Barbet (Psilopogon zeylanicus) [XC490164]
by id from Ella, Badulla, Uva Province, Sri Lanka (call)
Brown-headed Barbet (Psilopogon zeylanicus) [XC808571]
by Barry Edmonston from Thane (near Tanasa), Konkan Division, Maharashtra, India (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Lineated Barbet (Psilopogon lineatus), and in past often treated as conspecific; they are narrowly sympatric in northern India and south-western Nepal, but with no apparent hybridization. Possibly related also to White-cheeked Barbet (Psilopogon viridis) and Green-eared Barbet (Psilopogon faiostrictus), but not very closely. Western Himalayan birds (Kangra to Garhwal) previously recognized as subspecies kangrae, but now considered inseparable from caniceps.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
caniceps (Franklin, 1831) - South-western Nepal and northern India (Punjab and Uttar Pradesh south to northern Maharashtra, Orissa and Bihar).
inornatus Walden, 1870 - Central-western and south-western India (Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka).
zeylanicus (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) - Southern India (Kerala, southern Tamil Nadu) and Sri Lanka.