102 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



dd. Frontal band narrower, yellow or yellowish white; adult female with black 

 band across crown much narrower; smaller (wing averaging 135.7 in male, 

 134.8 in female). (Southern Lower California.) 



Balanosphyra formicivora angustifrons (p. 108). 

 66. Adult male with crown and occiput glossy black, only the nape red; adult 

 female without any red. (Central Colombia.) 



Balanosphjrra flavigula (extralimital).o 



aa. Auricular and orbital regions white; chin and whole throat light yellow; chest 



white, streaked with black. (Mexico?). . .Balanosphyra xantholarynx (p. 111). 



BALANOSPHYRA FORMICIVORA FORMICIVORA (Swainson). 



ANT-EATING WOODPECKER. 



Adult male. — Nasal tufts, anterior portion of malar region, chin, 

 and upper throat, black; forehead and rather narrow band across 

 anterior portion of lores to middle or posterior portion of malar 

 region white, passing into pale sulphur or primrose yellow or yellowish 

 white on lower throat and foreneck; crown, occiput, and nape, bright 

 poppy red; orbital and auricular regions, sides of neck, upper chest, 

 lower hindneck, back and scapulars, plain glossy greenish blue-black ; 

 wings black or brownish black, the coverts margined with glossy 

 greenish blue-black, the primaries (except three or four outermost) 

 with a basal patch of white, occupying both webs (but interrupted 

 by the black shaft), this white area broader on inner quills; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts immaculate white; tail entirely black; lower 

 chest and sides of upper breast glossy greenish blue-black, more or 

 less broadly streaked with white (the upper chest also sometimes 

 more or less streaked, at least on median portion), the remaining 

 under parts white, the lower breast (except medially), sides, and 

 flanks streaked with black, the under tail-coverts with narrow shaft- 

 streaks of the same; bill black; iris variable in color (pinkish, white, 

 bluish, brownish, or yellowish) ; legs and feet dusky grayish (greenish 

 gray in life ?); length (skins), 191-235 (213); wing, 131.5-151 (141.1); 

 tail, 69-83.5 (76.6); culmen, 23-28.5 (26.9); tarsus, 20-23.5 (22.4); 

 outer anterior toe, 15.5-19 (17.4).'' 



Adult female. — Similar to the adult male, but crown glossy greenish 

 bhie-black, the anterior margin of the transverse occipito-nuchal area 

 much posterior to posterior angle of eye (about middle of auricular 

 region) ; length (sldns), 190-233 (206); wing, 130.5-148 (136.3); tail, 



a Melampicos flavigula Malherbe, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., Nov., 1849, 542 (Colom- 

 bia). — Melampicus flavigula Malherbe, Mon. Picid., ii, 1862, 202; iv, 1862, pi. 99, figs. 

 5, 6. — M[elanerpes] flavigula Reichenbach, Handb. Scansores, Picinse, 1854, 384, pi. 

 643, figs. 4297-4299.— Melanerpes flavigula Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1855, 161; 

 Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xviii, 1890, 154. — Melanerpesformicivorus, var. flavigula 

 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, ii, 1874, 561. — Melanerpes flavigu- 

 laris Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1856, 307. — [Melanerpes] flavigularis Sclater and 

 Salvin, Norn. Av. Neotr., 1873, 100; Sharpe, Hand-list, ii, 1900, 210.— Balanosphyra 

 flavigula Ridgway, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xxiv, Feb. 24, 11311, 35. 



6 Forty-one specimens. 



