STRIATED WOODPECKER. 87 



the daws strong, well arched, and very acute. The plumage is 

 soft and blended ; the wings large, broad, rounded, with nine- 

 teen quills, of which the first is very small, the fourth longest; 

 the tail rather short, rounded, of twelve feathers, the lateral 

 small and incumbent, the rest with strong shafts and emargi- 

 nate tips. 



The bill is greyish-blue, darker at the end ; the iris reddish- 

 brown ; the feet leaden-blue, the claws dusky. The forehead 

 brownish-white ; the crown of the head crimson, with a black 

 band on each side, the occiput of the latter colour ; the sides 

 of the head and neck are white, with a black band from the 

 lower mandible to the wing ; the rest of the lower parts 

 brownish-white, the breast and sides longitudinally streaked 

 with dusky. The hind-neck and fore part of the back are 

 glossy black ; the rest of the back and the scapulars trans- 

 versely barred with black and white ; the wings black, the 

 secondary coverts with two white bands, the quills marked 

 with white spots on both webs, except the first which has the 

 inner web white at the base ; the four middle tail feathers 

 black, the rest white toward the end, the third from the centre 

 with the tip obliquely white, the next with two black bars 

 on the inner webs, the outer with three bars on both webs, 

 the small incumbent feathers black. 



Length to end of tail 5h inches; extent of wings 10 ; bill 

 along the ridge {'o, along the edge of lower mandible ^^2 '■> 

 wing from flexure 3| ; tail 2 ; tarsus /| ; hind toe /g, its claw 

 2g ; second toe ^*^, its claw i*^ ; third toe y|, its claw /| ; 

 reversed toe /g, its claw /|. 



Female. — The female differs from the male in having the 

 upper part of the head white. 



Habits. — This species, which is said to be more abundant 

 in the northern parts of Europe than in France and Germany, 

 has not hitherto been met with in Scotland, or even in many 

 parts of England, although it occurs in most of the southern, 

 eastern, and midland counties, extending as far north as Derby, 

 and westward to Shrewsbury and Hereford. It is said by several 



