PICID.E — THE WOODPECKERS — MELANERPES. 403 



extreme bases ; the shafts are black. There is a yellowish tinge to the 

 wliite on tlie middle of tlie belly, and the exterior tail feathers are tipped 

 .with whitish. Tlie inside of the wing is white. 



I can detect no difference in Western specimens. Occasionally the 

 secondaries are blotched or Ijarred with black near the end (587). Imma- 

 ture specimens almost always have this cliaracter. Tlie young lack the red 

 of the head, Avliich is replaced by brown, obscurely spotted and streaked. 

 The white of the breast too is duller, and also streaked. Dr. Gambel 

 speaks of this species as common in oak timber near the Mission of San 

 Gabriel, California, but none have been noticed west of the mountains by 

 any one else. As, however, it extends to the Eocky Mountains, and per- 

 haps west of them, we introduce the species into the present report. 



Melanerpes formicivorus, Sw.vinson. 



THE CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER. 



Picus formicivorus, Swainson, Birds Mex. in Pliilos. Mag. I. IS27, 439. (Mexico.) — Vig- 

 ors, Zool. Blossom, 1839, 23. (Monterey.) —Nuttall, Man. I. 2d cd. 1840. — .l/c- 

 lanerpes formickorus, Bonaparte, Conspectus, IS.'JO, 115. — Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. 

 Phil. 2d Series, 11. 1853, 270. — Cassix, Illust. II. 1853, 11 ; pi. ii. — Newberry, Zool. 

 Cal. and Or. Route, 90 ; P. K. R. .Surv. VI. 1857. — Baird, P. R. Rep. IX. Birds, 114. 

 — IIeermann, X. vi. 58. 



Sp. Char. Fourth (piill longest, tliinl a little shorter. Above on the anterior halt' of 

 the body glossy bhiish or greenish black ; the top of the head and a short occipital crest 

 red. A white patch on the forehead, connected with a broad crescentic collar on the 



upper part of the neck bv a naiTow istlimus, white tinged with sulphur-yellow. Belly, 

 rump, bases of primaries, and inner edges of the outer cpiills, white. Tail feathers uniform 

 black. 



