282 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



SPHYRAPICUS RUBER RUBER (Gmelin). 



RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. 



Adult male in spring and summer. — Head, neck, and chest, bright 

 red (nearest poppy red) superficially, (the feathers dusky grayish 

 beneath surface) ; nasal tufts and anterior and lower portion of loral 

 region dull yellowish white or pale dull buffy, the posterior portion of 

 loral region (next to eye) black, this sometimes continued, narrowly, 

 along edge of forehead; red of suborbital region lighter than that 

 of malar region, the latter blackish at anterior end; rest of under 

 parts very pale straw yellow or yellowish white, the breast more 

 or less washed or overlaid with bright red, the sides, flanks, and 

 under tail-coverts less yellowish white, broken by mostly V-shaped 

 or hastate markings of dusky grayish; general color of upper parts 

 (except head and neck) black, broken by a double series (converging 

 posteriorly) of white spots down middle of back, a longitudinal 

 white patch on wing-coverts (involving most of middle coverts 

 and outer webs of distal greater coverts) and white spots on outer 

 web of primaries and at tip of proximal secondaries, the inner web 

 and tip of upper tail-coverts also white, and inner web of middle 

 pair of rectrices with obhque, quadrate spots of white; bill brownish 

 black or blackish brown; iris brown; legs and feet grayish; length 

 (sldns), 176-208 (194); wmg, 118-127.5 (123.1); tail, 71.5-77 (74.6); 

 culmen, 23-25.5 (24.2); tarsus, 20-22 (20.7); outer anterior toe, 

 14-16 (15.2).« 



Adult male in autumn and winter. — Similar to the adult male in 

 spring and summer, but the red duUer, more vinous (sometimes 

 approaching lake red or light burnt carmine), under parts of body 

 more decidedly yellowish, spots on back brownish white or pale 

 brownish, and bill horn bro-wnish instead of nearly black. 



Adult female. — Similar to the adult male and not always distin- 

 guishable, but usually ( ?) with the breast less strongly washed mtii 

 red; length (skins), 186-206 (195); wing, 120-125.5 (122.8); tail, 

 71-79 (75.1); culmen, 22-25 (23.8); tarsus, 19-21 (20.1); outer ante- 

 rior toe, 14.5-15.5 (15).« 



Young (both, sexes). — Wings, tail, and back essentially as in adults; 

 pileum, nape, auricular region, and malar region sooty blackish or 

 dark grayish sooty, the forehead and crown usually tinged, more or 

 less strongly, with dull red, sometunes decidedly dull red (malar 

 region also sometimes dull reddish) ; suborbital stripe white (some- 

 times tinged with red) ; chm, throat, and chest dull grayish (the first 

 two sometimes partly intermixed with dull whitish), usually more 

 or less distinctly barred with darker but sometimes immaculate, 

 often tinged (in part at least) with reddish; sides grayish, usually 



« Ten specimens. 



