PICID/E — THE WOODPECKERS — SPIIYROPICUS. 39I 



stripe, not extending to the lai'ge (juailrate blacli jiatcli on the breast. A white stripe 

 along the edges of wing coverts, outer webs of secondaries ahnost entirely black, the rest 

 of the quills spotted with white on the edges of both webs. Tail feathers black, except 

 the inner webs of the innernidst, which are white banded with black, the others occasion- 

 ally e(lge<l with yellowish. 



Female with the throat red, the chin more or less white. 



Length, 8 50 ; extent, 15.50 ; wing, 5.12. Iris brown ; bill horn-color ; feet gray. 



Hah. Rocky ISIountains near lat. 48°, south to Colorado Valley. 



At Fort jVIojave, on the 20tli of February, 1861, I shot a female specimen 

 of this beautiful woodpecker, which may have wandered in a storm from 

 the mountains, being the only one I saw, though Dr. Heermann states that 

 they are not rare at Fort Yuma. It was silent and seemed inactive, as if 

 exhausted by a long flight, keeping concealed in the tall jjoplars. 



I found this species rather common in crossing the Itocky Mountains 

 near lat. 48°, in September, 1860, and noticed a great similarity in habits to 



tliose of the Eastern r. rariKs. They fre(|uent chiefly small deciduous trees, 

 and feed in tlie same manner as other woodpeckers, having also a shrill, 

 unvaried call, or note of alarm. 



It is very likely that this S[)ecies occurs on the eastern slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada, although I saw none there in September, 1863. Its nest has not 

 yet been discovered. 



We have placed figures of the heads of this species and the Eastern P. 

 varius on the opposite page, as the best mode of exliiljiting the differ- 

 ences. 



The female of aS'. nuchalis is shown in tlie above figure. 



