PIED WOODPECKER. 85 



The eggs are of an elliptical form, pure white, glossy, an 

 inch and a twelfth in length, and nine-twelfths in breadth. 



Young. — When fledged, the young resemble the adult, with 

 the following differences. The plumage is looser and less 

 glossy ; the black of the upper parts is tinged with brown ; 

 the feathers on the upper and fore part of the head are tipped 

 with crimson ; the white on the sides of the head and neck, as 

 well as that of the scapulars and inner large wing-coverts, 

 soiled with brown ; the longitudinal dark band on the sides of 

 the neck is narrower and blackish-brown, and the lower parts 

 are brownish-white, while the red on the abdomen is duller 

 and of much less extent. In this state, it has been mistaken 

 for Picus medius. 



Progress toward Maturity. — After the first autumnal 

 moult, the young assume the colours of the adult. 



Remarks. — A great number of Woodpeckers, such as Picus 

 Canadensis, P. Martinre, P. Harrisii, P. villosus, P. pubescens, 

 P. querulus, P. medius, and P. minor, which resemble the 

 present in having the upper parts black, patched with white, 

 may equally be named Spotted Woodpeckers. The older au- 

 thors, Brisson for example, named it the Larger Spotted ^Vood- 

 pecker, Picus varius major, to distinguish it from the other 

 pied European species ; and Linnaeus, agreeably to the binary 

 nomenclature which he employed, rejected the term varius or 

 spotted, and gave it the specific name of major. This appella- 

 tion, however, is obviously inadmissible, as the bird is not the 

 largest of the spotted or pied species, and much less is it the 

 largest of the Woodpeckers in general, as the name would imply. 

 I have therefore changed the specific name to Pipra, which is 

 said by Aldrovandi and others to have been that given it by 

 Aristotle. It is difiicult to find a good English name for it, 

 but that which I have employed may answer our purpose, and 

 has the advantage of not being new. The name " Red-bellied, ■" 

 which might distinguish it from our other species, has been 

 given to an American Woodpecker, and I am acquainted with 

 oight or ten species which arc equally red beneath. 



