494 PICIDE. 
M. uropygialis is a very distinct species with no near allies. ‘The upper tail-coverts 
are distinctly banded ; there is no nuchal red patch in either sex or colouring on the 
nasal feathers. | 
Its range is restricted to the countries lying on our north-western frontier and 
Western Mexico, as far south as the sierras of the States of Jalisco and Aguas Calientes, 
Grayson says that it is found at all seasons of the year in some localities in Western 
Mexico, but is not abundant. It makes its nest by boring into decayed trees, some- 
times selecting the stems of palms. In Arizona, according to Dr. Hermann, the giant 
cactus trees, which reach a height of forty feet, are often riddled with holes made by 
birds of this species. The pith of the plant is extracted until a chamber of suitable 
size is formed ; the wounded surface hardens and forms a smooth dry coating to the 
cavity, and thus a convenient place for incubation is constructed. 
According to Dr. Cooper the food of this Woodpecker largely consists of the berries 
of mistletoe, but no doubt insects are also eaten in numbers. 
B": Capitis latus circum oculos nigro notatus. 
12. Melanerpes elegans. 
Picus elegans, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 439°; Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 514°; Finsch, Abh. nat. 
Ver. Bremen, 1870, p. 356 °. 
Centurus elegans, Cab. J. £. Orn. 1862, p. 327°; Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 177°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. 
Soc. N. H. ii. p. 294°; Ridgw. Pr. U. 8S. Nat. Mus. iv. p. 114°; Salv. Cat. Strickl. Coll. 
p- 899°; P.Z.S. 1883, p. 425°; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 160° ; Stone, 
Pr. Ac. Phil. 1890, p. 218”. 
Melanerpes elegans, Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 184. 
Supra niger, dorso toto, alis, uropygio, tectricibus supracaudalibus, rectricibus mediis et duabus subexternis 
regulariter albo transfasciatis, pileo toto coccineo, nucha lete flavo-aurantia, fronte albida, plumis supra 
nares et area infra oculos quoque flavo lavatis, oculorum ambitu nigerrimo: subtus fuscus, gula et abdo- 
mine imo pallidioribus, hoc cum hypochondriis imis et subcaudalibus nigro transfasciatis, ventre medio 
flavo ; remigibus externis nigris albo ad basin distincte notatis, apicibus quoque albis, subalaribus albis 
nigro variegatis ; rostro et pedibus plumbeis. Long. tota circa 8-7, ale 5-1, caude 3-1, rostri a rictu 1:3, 
tarsi 0°9, dig. med. absque ungue 0°8, dig. ext. 0°7. (Descr. maris ex Dos Arroyos, Guerrero, Mexico. 
Mus. nostr.) 
© mari similis, sed pileo toto sordide albo nec coccineo. 
Hab. Muxico, Coast region (Bullock), Sonora (Grayson ®), Mazatlan (Grayson ®, 
Forrer), Santiago, San Blas, Tepic (W. B. Richardson), 'Tuxpan in the Terr. de 
Tepic (Dr. A. C. Buller, in Mus. Rothschild), Beltran, Hacienda de San Marcos 
(W. Lloyd), Plains of Colima (Xantus), La Playa V. de Jorullo (Baker), 
Acapulco (Mus. Berol.*, A. H. Markham ®, Mrs. H. H. Smith), Dos Arroyos (Mrs. H. 
H. Smith), Guadalajara (Grayson®), Matamoros Izucar 1°, Epatlan (Ferrari- 
Perez). 
_ This pretty Woodpecker was first described by Swainson in 1827, from a specimen 
