PICID.E — THE WOODPECKERS — CEXTURUS. 



397 



Female v;ithout the red on the ehi-ck ami tin- antrrior half of that on the top of the 

 head replaced by black. 



Tfah. North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 



This large specie.? is rarely if' ever seen to the south of lat. 38°, on this 

 coast. I lia\e never met with them, or heard of them, except one killed 

 near Mount J)ial»lo. Even on the summits of the Sierra Xevada I saw 

 none, tliouoh they douhtless wander occasionally through the whole extent 

 of that range. 



They are abundant near the Columbia Eiver, and their loud call resem- 

 bling that of the Colaptes, but much louder, often indicates their presence 

 for miles away. They are usually very sby and difficult to kill. Their 

 burrow for a nest I have seen dug in the side of a tree al)out forty feet 

 above the ground. According to Nuttall, they lay about .six snowy white 

 eggs, and are said sometimes to raise two In-oods in a season. 



Specimens from Washington Territory are nuich larger than those of the 

 Middle Atlantic States. 



Genus CENTURUS, Swainsojt. 



Centunis, SwAINSOX. Class Birds, II. 1S.'!7, .310. (Tvpe, C. Cmoliniis.) 

 Zehriipicus, M.ilh. Mem. Acad. Metz. 1849, 3G0. (Type, C. Carolimis ) 



Gen. C'h.\r. Bill aliont the lenuth of the head, or a littli' lonser ; decidedly com- 

 pressed, except at the extreme base. A lateral ridge starting a little Ix-low the culmen at 



