8 Allen's naturalist's lierary. 



their colouring is, as their name impHes, principally black and 

 white. The majority of them are northern birds, being found 

 in Europe and Northern Asia, and also in North America. In 

 the New World the genus reappears in a curious way, as no 

 species is found to the south of the Isthmus of Panama, until 

 D. lignaims and D. mixhis are met with from Peru to Chili, 

 and in Southern Brazil and Argentina. 



There are but two species resident in the British Islands, a 

 large and a small one, which are described below. 



L THE great spotted WOODPECKER. DENDROCOPUS MAJOR. 



Picus major^ Linn. S. N. i. p. 176 (1766) ; Dresser, B. Eur. v. 



p. 19, pi. 275 (187 1); Seeb. Br. B. ii. p. 354 (1884); Lil- 



ford. Col. Fig. Br. B. pt. vii. (1888). 

 Picus pipra^ Macg. Br. B. iii. p. 80 (1840). 

 Deiidrocopus viajor^ Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. ii. p. 470 (1881); 



B. O.U. List Br. B. p. 77 (1883); Saunders, Man. p. 265 



(1889); Hargitt, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xviii. p. 211 (1890). 



Adult Male. — General colour above black and white ; the 

 scapular plumes white, slightly dingy ; quills spotted or barred 

 with white, the spots or patches on the closed wing giving the 

 appearance of five bars ; tail black, the four median feathers 

 entirely of this colour, the next ones black at the base, white 

 at the tip with black bars ; nasal plumes black ; forehead 

 drabby-brown; crown of head and nape blue-black, the occiput 

 red ; sides of face white ; a broad moustachial band of black 

 connected with the black nape ; under surface drabby-brown 

 from the throat to the breast ; remainder of under surface 

 crimson ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the lower 

 coverts spotted with black ; " bill slaty-black ; legs, feet, and 

 claws dark brown ; iris red" {H. SeeboJim). Total length, 10 

 inches; culmen, i*i ; wing, 5-5 ; tail, 37 ; tarsus, i-o. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male in colour, but having no 

 red on the occiput ; the entire head is, in consequence, black. 

 Size about the same as that of the male. 



Young. — More dingily coloured than the adults, especially 

 below, the crimson on the abdomen being very dull. They may 

 easily be told by their red crowns, by the white tips to the 



