276 nciDj!:. 



-J 



Apternus tridactylus, Swains. Faun. Bor.-Amir. ii. p. 301 (1831) ; 



id. Classif. B.'ii. p. 306 (1837); Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. ^- N. 



Amer. p. "30, no. 270 (1838) ; id. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 13!J (1850) ; 



id. Cotisp. Valuer. Zyr/od. p. 8, do. 81 (1854) ; Beichenb. Scans. 



Picince, p. 316, no. 835, pi. dcxxxi., A. monianus, tigs. 4201-02, 



A. septentrionalis, figs. 4195-96, A. ulpinus, figs. 4199-4200 



(1854); Schrench, Amur-Beise, i. p. 264 (1859); Bussuw, Orn. 



Ehst-, Liv- u. Choi. 1880, p. 115 ; Marsch. ^- Pelz. Orn. Vindub. 1882, 



p. 91. 

 Picoides septentrionalis, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 195 (1831) ; id. 



Vulht. T'off. p. 71 (1855). 

 Picoides longiro.stiis, i>?v/r«(. Vol/st. Viit/. -p. 71 (1855). 

 Tridactylia tridactylus, Meves, Eur. Vog. 1886, p. 24. 



Adult male. Back white, broadly striped with black ; scapulars, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform brownish black, or the rump 

 sometimes spotted with white ; wings and their coverts brownish 

 black, the quills (except on the outer webs of the inner secondaries) 

 spotted with white upon both M-ebs ; shafts brown ; tail black, the 

 two outer large feathers barred with white on the apical half ; shafts 

 black ; nasal plumes black varied with white ; forehead black 

 broadly striped with white ; the crown-feathers tipped with yellow 

 and having black bases with an intermediate \\ bite spot ; occiput 

 and nape blue-black, the occipital feathers tipped with white ; face 

 and neck, and the underparts from the chin to the vent (both 

 inclusive) white ; a broad blue-black stripe from behind the eye runs 

 down the side of the neck, and a black malar stripe borders the 

 throat and fore neck and branches out into a number of broad 

 stripes on the side of the chest and breast, the malar region spotted 

 with white ; the sides of the body, flanks, and thighs barred with 

 black ; under tail-coverts white on the aj^ieal portion, the bases 

 black and partly showing as a stripe-like spot ; under wing-coverts 

 white barred with black. Total length S-5 inches, culmen 1-25, 

 wing 4-95, tail 3'3, tarsus 0'8 ; toes (without claws) — outer anterior 

 0"4, inner anterior 0'25, posterior 0"45. 



Touncf male. Has the dark portions of the plumage of a sooty 

 brown and totally devoid of any blue-black gloss, even on the head ; 

 there is very much less yellow and white on the top of the head, 

 the white having the character of distinct spots ; the underparts 

 are duller and there is more dusky black on the sides of the 

 body, and a few dusky crescentic markings in the middle of the 

 chest. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in the absence of the 

 yellow on the top of the head, the feathers of the forehead and 

 crown oeiug black at the base, the apical portion white, with a black 

 shaft-sfcripe. Total length 8-5 inches, culmen 1-15, wing 4-65, 

 tail 3, tarsus 0*8. 



Examples from Switzerland have the underparts (except the 

 middle of the breast and abdomen) very much varied with black, 

 and the white stripe down the back is also varied with sagittate and 

 transverse black markings, these, in some specimens, forming distinct 

 bars across the feathers. This peculiar form is deserving of recog- 



