YOUNG RED- HEADED WOODPECKER. 267 



to the fifth, the second to the fourth, the third being longest ; the 

 smaller wing-coverts are uniform with the back ; the larger are of a 

 deeper black, and tipped with pure white ; the spurious wing is wholly 

 deep black ; the under wing-coverts are pure white, blackish along the 

 margin of the wing ; the primaries are plain black, tipped and edged 

 externally with whitish ; the secondaries are white, shafted with black, 

 and with an acuminate, broad, subterminal band, which running from 

 one to the other, takes a zigzag appearance ; the tail is four inches 

 long, and, like those of all the Woodpeckers we have examined, com- 

 posed of twelve feathers, of which the outer on each side is extremely 

 short and inconspicuous, and pure white, with a black shaft. All the 

 others, which are veiy acute, longer, and more acuminate, and stiffer as 

 they approach the centre, are black, and except the two middle ones, 

 slightly whitish each side of the shaft at tip, the outer being also of 

 that color on its outer margin. The feet are dark plumbeous, the tarsus 

 being seven-eighths of an inch long, and feathered for a short space in 

 front. 



The young of both sexes are, no less than the adult, perfectly alike ; 

 as they advance in age, the margins of the feathers disappear, and the 

 black becomes deep and glossy, and all the colors much purer ; the 

 scarlet of the head comes on very gradually, so that specimens are found 

 with merely a reddish tinge, and generally with a few dots on the hind 

 neck : it is one of these specimens with a few streaks of red, that v/e 

 have selected for the sake of ornamenting the plate, as well as to exem- 

 plify the manner in which the change takes place. No such mark 

 appears at first. 



In the adult the whole head, neck, and breast, are bright and deep 

 scarlet, with the feathers black at base ; the back, scapulars, and smaller 

 wing-coverts are rich glossy black ; the rump, upper tail-coverts, and 

 from the breast beneath, white, the bottom of the plumage being plum- 

 beous, and the tail-coverts with blackish shafts ; the wings and tail are 

 black ; the lower wing-coverts pure white, with the margin of the wing 

 deep black ; the secondaries are Avhite, shafted to near the tip with black ; 

 the last of the primaries being also white at tip, and on the greater part 

 of the base of the outer vane ; the small lanceolate outer feather is 

 white, black on the shaft and base of the inner vane ; the two next 

 only being tipped with white the outer of which is also white on the 

 exterior margin. 



