418 PICID. 
In size and general appearance WM. rubriventris resembles M. wagleri, and. the two 
birds at one time were confused together. The bright orange of the whole of the 
feathers surrounding the base of the bill and the narrowness of the white bars of the 
upper surface readily distinguish M. rubriventris from its more southern ally. The 
Bonacca Island bird, however, is somewhat intermediate between the two, both in size 
and colour; but as the adult has the yellow colouring round the base of the bill, we 
assign it to WM. rubriventris. 
6. Melanerpes aurifrons. 
Picus aurifrons, Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 512*; Licht. Preis-Verz. mex. Vég. p. 1 (cf. J. f. Orn. 1863, 
p. 55) *. 
Centurus aurifrons, Cab. J. f£. Orn. 1862, p. 323°; Dugés, La Nat. i. p. 189‘; Baird, Brew., & 
| Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, ii. p. 557°; Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 104°. 
Melanerpes aurifrons, Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 177. 
Centurus subelegans, Bp. P. Z.S. 1837, p. 109 (nec Consp. Av. i. p. 118) °. 
Picus ornatus, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 102°. 
Supra niger, dorso et alis albo transfasciatis, uropygio et tectricibus supracaudalibus albis ; capite summo griseo, 
plaga magna occipitali rubra, nucha et fronte aureis hac pallidiore, capite antico lateribus et corpore 
subtus albicantibus ; ventre medio flavo; tectricibus subalaribus et tibiis nigro transfasciatis, remigibus 
nigris, fascia lata irregulari alba, rhachidibus nigris; cauda nigra, rectrice subexterni ad apicem et in 
pogonio externo albo fasciato; rostro nigro : pedibus plumbeis. Long. tota circa 9-0, ale 5:5, caudee 3:4, 
rostri a rictu 1°7, tarsi 0-93, dig. med. absque ungue 0-8, dig. ext. 0°78. (Descr. maris ex Julines, 
Chihuahua, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
© mari similis, sed plaga rubra capitis summi nulla. 
Hab. N. America, Texas®.—Mexico®, Julines in Chihuahua (W. Lloyd), Nuevo Laredo, 
Ceralvo, Hacienda de las Escobas, San Agustin in Nuevo Leon (Ff. B. Armstrong), 
Ismiquilpam (Deppe, in Mus. Berol.*), Sierra above Ciudad Victoria and Soto la 
Marina in Tamaulipas, Aguas Calientes and Calvillo in Aguas Calientes (W. B. 
ftichardson), Silao (mus. nostr.), Valley of Mexico (mus. nostr.), Morelia 
(f. D. G.), Guanajuato (Dugés*), Santana near Guadalajara (W. Lloyd). 
Wagler’s description of this Woodpecker was based on Mexican specimens in the 
Berlin Museum, which were probably those obtained by Deppe at Ismiquilpam. In 
North Mexico we now know the bird is by no means rare. Its southward extension 
reaches to Morelia in the State of Michoacan, and we have a specimen said to have 
come from the Valley of Mexico, but this is perhaps open to question. On the eastern 
side it occurs throughout the States of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon: but we have no 
record of its occurrence in Vera Cruz, its place being taken by a closely allied form. 
In South Texas it appears to be very common, and has been noticed by all collectors 
who have written on the birds of that State. Mr. Sennett found it at Lomita, where 
it was breeding, making its nest-hole in the large hard-wood trees. It also bores into 
the telegraph-poles in search of larve. The eggs are of the usual white colour and 
vary in number from four to six in a nest, 
