PICID.E — PICIX.E . WOODPECKERS. 



583 



longer than 7th; spurious primary very short; bill smaller thau usual, decidedly shorter than 

 head. Length 8.00-8.50 ; extent 14.00-15.00 ; wing 4.50-4.90 ; tail 3.25-3.75. Pine swamps 

 and barrens of the S. Atlantic and Gulf States; N. to Pennsylvania and New Jersey occa- 

 sionally; W. to Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indian Territory, and a small p»art of Texas. 

 Eggs 3-G, 0.95 X 0.70 on an average, ranging in length from 0.90 to 1 .0.5. 

 D. scala'ris baird'i. (Lat. scalaris, ladder-like; scala, a scale, flight of stairs, etc.; alhidiug 

 to the black and white cross-bars on the back. To S. F. Baird.) Texan Woodpecker. 

 Ladder-backed Woodpecker. Entire back, from nape to upper tail-coverts, barred across 

 in bhick and white stripes of equal width ; a narrow space on back of neck, upper tail-coverts, 

 and 4 middle tail-feathers, entirely black ; wing-coverts with a round white spot at end of each 

 feather, and a hidden spot or jiair <>f spots farther along the feather. Primaries regularly 

 marked with white sp<its in pairs on edges of webs, those on outer wel>s small and angular, ou 

 inner webs larger and more rounded; on secondaries these S[)ots changing to broken bars; so 

 tliat the primaries and coverts are s]iotted alike, the secondaries and back barred alike. Crown 

 black, speckled with white, in ^ extensively crimson; the feathers being black, specked with 

 white, finally tipped with red, which becomes continuous on hind head, where the white specks 

 cease. Side of head white, with a loug black stripe from bill under eye, widening behind, 

 there joining a black jiostocular stripe and spreading over side of neck. Nasal feathers smoky- 

 brown. Under parts ranging from soiled white to smoky-gray, with numerous black spots on 

 sides. Hanks, an<l crissum ; lateral tail-feathers perfectly barred with black and white in equal 

 amounts. 9 lacking red on crown. Small: length 7.00-7.50; extent 13.00 ; wing 3..50-4.00; 

 tail 2.7.5-3.00; bill 0.6G-0.87. Southwestern U. S., Texas to California, N. to Utah, Nevada, 

 and S. Colorado, and southward to the table lands of Mexico. Eggs 0.80 X 0.65. It is obvi- 

 ously impossible, iu the cases of these profusely spotted Woodpeckers, to frame a description 

 which will meet every case, without being too vague, or going into tedious particulars. The 

 foregoing, taken from Rio Grande specimens, covers the usual style of the species as found 

 along our southern border; but the student must not be surprised if I fail to account for every 

 spot of the particular specimen he has in hand. P. scalarii'i of former eds. of the Key, now 

 subspecifically distinguished from typical Mexican scalarix, which is smaller. P. bairdt ScL. 

 in Malherbe's Monog. Pic. i, 1801, p. I 18, pi. 27, figs. 7, 8; D. scalaris hairdi Kidgw. Man. 

 1887, p. 285; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 903; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 396. The 

 difference is so slight that the two are united by 

 the latest monographer of the family (HARdiTT, 

 Cat. Pic. Brit. Mus. 1890, p. 246) under the name 

 of Dcndrocopus scalaris. 



D. s. luoasa'iius. (Of Cape St. Lucas.) St. 

 Lucas Woodpecker. A local race of scalaris. 

 Smoky-brown nasal tufts and style of head and 

 back as in that species. Lateral tail-feathers im- 

 perfectly barred and only toward end, as iu nuttalli. 

 Red of crown of ^ broken up anteriorly. Peculiar 

 in disproportionate size of bill and feet: bill 1. 10; 

 tarsus 0.75. Lower California. Picas liicasanas 

 Xantus, 18.59; P. scalaris liicasa)nis CoVKH, of 

 all previous eds. of the Key; iJri/obates scalaris 

 hicasaints Kiixiw. 1885; A. O. U. Lists, 1886-95, 

 No. '.VM\(i. 



I>. uut'talli. (To Thos. Niittall. Fii:. .•{!»7.) 

 NrTT.\Li.'.s Wdohpecker. Similar, but niorr white, this jirevailing on back over the black 

 l)ars; nape chiefly white; nasal tufts bullish or white; lateral tail-feathers, especially, s|iaisc]y 



Fio. 307 

 (From Elliot.) 



NuttiiU's Wooilpccker, nat. size. 



