PICID^ —THE WOODPECKERS. 5I5 



Picus scalaris, Waglek. 



LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Picus scalaris. Wagleh, Isis, 1829, V, 511 (Mexico).— Bonap. Consp. 1850, 138. —ScL. 

 P. Z. S. 1S56, 307. — Si-XD. Consp. 18. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 94, pi. xli, f. 1. 

 — Ib. Eep. Mex. Bound. II, 4, pi. iii. — ScL. Cat. 1862, 333. — Cass. P. A. N. S. 

 1863, 195. —Gray, Cat. 1868, 48. — HEEU.\t. X, c, j). 18. — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 

 1870, 379. Picus (Di/ctiupicus) scalaris, BoN. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Ihjc- 

 tiopipo scalaris, Cab. & Hein. Mus. 74. Picas gracilis. Less. Rev. Z06I. 1839, 90 

 (Mu.Kico). Picus parous, Cabot, Boston Jour. N. H. V, 1845, 90 (Sisal, Yucatan). 

 Picus Orizaba:, Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1863, 196 (Orizaba). Picus bogotus, Cassix, Pr. 

 A. N. S. 1863, 196 ; Jour. A. N. S. V, 1863, 460, pi. Iii, f. 1 (Mex.). Picus bairdi 

 (ScL. MS.S.), Malherbe, Mon. Pic. I, 118, t. xxvii, f. 7, 8. — ScL. Cat. 333, (?) P. Z. S. 

 64, 177 (city of Mex.). —Cab. & Heix. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 76. — Cassix, Pr. A. N. S. 

 1863, 196. — CouES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 52 (perhaps var. graysoni). — Dresser, Ibis, 

 1865, 468. Hab. Texas and New Mexico, to Arizona ; south through Eastern Mexico 

 to Yucatan. Picus scalaris, var. graysoni, Baird, MSS. Hab. Western Arizona ; 

 Western Mexico and Tres Marias. 



Sp. Char. Back banded transversely with black and white from nape to rump (not 

 upper tail-coverts). Quills and coverts with spots of white; forming bands on the 

 secondaries. Two white stripes on sides of head. Top of head red, .spotted with white. 

 Nasal tufts brown. Beneath brownish-white, with black spots on sides, becoming bands 

 behind. Outer tail-feathers more or less banded. Length, about 6.50; wing, 3.50 to 

 4.50 ; tail, about 2.50. 



Hab. Gruatemala, Mexico, and adjacent southern parts of United States. Localities: 

 Xalapa (Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 367) ; Cordova (ScL. 185G, 357) ; Guatemala (ScL. Ibis, I, 

 13G) ; Orizaba (Scl. Cat. 333) ; S. E. Texas (Dresser, Ibi.s, 1865, 468, breeds) ; W. 

 Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 52) ; Yucatan (Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lye. IX, 205). 



In tlie aliove diagnosis we lia^'e endeavored to express the average of 

 characters belonging to a Woodpecker to which many names, based on 

 trilling geographical variations, have been assigned, but which legitimately 

 can be only considered as one sjjecies. Tliis is among the smallest of the 

 North American Woodpeckers, and in all its variations the wings are long, 

 reaching as far as the short feathers of the tail. The upper parts generally 

 are black, on tlie back, ruraj), and exposed feathers of the wings banded 

 transversely with white, the l)lack bands rather the narrower ; the quills and 

 larger coverts spotted with tlie same on both webs, becoming bands on the 

 innermost secondaries. Tlie upper tail-coverts and two inner tail-feathers 

 on either side are black. The white bands of the back extend all the way 

 up to the neck, without any interscapular interruption. The under parts 

 are of a pale smoky brownish- white, almost with a lilac tinge ; on the sides 

 of the breast and belly are a few scattered small but elongated spots. The 

 posterior parts of the sides under the wing and the under tail-coverts are 

 ob.scurcly banded transversely with black. The top of the head, extending 

 from a narrow sooty frontlet at the base of the bill to a short, broad nuchal 

 crest, is crimson in the male, each feather with a white spot between the 



