414 PICID &. 
is found wherever pines or oaks, or both, are the chief trees of a district. As these 
trees are found at short intervals over the whole of the Mexican and Central-American 
highlands, UW. formicivorus occurs in profusion. But it is not in the highlands alone 
that it is found, for as oaks grow near the shores of the Gulf of Mexico near Misantla 
and pines within sight of the sea on the coast of British Honduras, there, too, Mela- 
nerpes formicivorus is present. It thus has a range in altitude extending from the 
sea-level to a height of at least 8000 or 9000 feet in the mountains, 
The first specimens sent to Europe were obtained by Bullock at Temiscaltepec 1, on 
the borders of the Valley of Mexico. These were named by Swainson in 1827 as Picus 
formicivorus. The following year Temminck described and figured a female bird as 
Picus melanopogon *°. Both names belong to the bird of the highlands of Central 
Mexico, whence we have lately received many specimens. The northern bird was 
separated by Dr. Coues as If. f. bairdi, and a name has been suggested for the bird of 
Costa Rica, but apparently without description. All these names we now place under 
Swainson’s title. | 
A curious habit of this species has been described by Sumichrast 16, viz. the storing of 
acorns in the hollow trunks of the maguey and in the clefts behind the peeling bark of 
dry trees. He also says these birds pick round holes in the bark of oak trees, and into 
each one insert an acorn and fix it there firmly. On one occasion, Salvin observed a 
number of birds evidently engaged in this operation. This was on the high mountain- 
ridge which lies between the Guatemalan town of Rabinal and the Valley of the 
Motagua. The trees whose bark was perforated in this case were pines, and a portion 
of the bark was split off and brought home and may be now seen in the British 
Museum. The thabit has also been noticed by Leyland § and by Dr. Berendt *° in the 
neighbourhood of Belize, and extended details on the subject are given by Brewer °°, 
This curious labour may be undertaken by this Woodpecker for the purpose of 
extracting larve infesting the acorns; but, as Sumichrast says, it is not easy to under- 
stand why the birds should take so much trouble to get these small larve in a country 
where insect-life exists in profusion. 
A close ally of MW. formicivorus, in its wide sense, is VW. Jtavigula of Colombia, in which 
the male is coloured on the head like the female of the northern bird, and the female 
has no red on the head at all. Another closely allied form, and perhaps not really 
different, occurs in Lower California. 
_ B. Dorsum nigrum, stria lata longitudinali mediana alba aut patlide isabellina. 
2, Melanerpes chrysauchen. (Tab. LX.) 
Melanerpes chrysauchen, Salv. P. Z. 8. 1870, p. 213! 3 Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit, Mus. xviii. p. 160°. 
Supra niger, dorso medio et uropygio albis, illo nigro maculato, fronte et nucha flavis, 
alis nigris, intus albo notatis ; cauda nigra: subtus sordide albidus flavo lavatus, ventre medio coccineo, 
hypochondriis imis et tectricibus subcaudalibus nigro transfasciatis ; rostro et pedibus plumbeis. Long. 
tot. circa 7-0, ale 4°5, caudz 2°3, rostri a rictu 1:2, tarsi 0°73, dig. med. absque ungue 0°65, dig. ext. 0-6. 
pileo medio coccineo ; 
