566 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS VARIUS (Linnaeus): Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker, Carpintero Saucero 



Picits varins Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 176. (South Carolina.) 



Of medium size; a broad, longitudinal white band on the wing; 

 large black patch on the lower foreneck and upper breast. 



Description. — Length 175-200 mm. Adult male, crown red, bordered 

 by a narrow line of black, that begins at the base of the bill and 

 extends back above the eye to join the broad black area of the side 

 of the occiput and the upper nape ; lower nape and upper hindneck 

 white to dull brownish white ; back and scapulars black spotted heavily 

 and irregularly with white; rump and upper tail coverts white cen- 

 trally, mixed with black at the sides ; tail black; inner web of central 

 pair of rectrices white barred with black; lateral rectrices with tips 

 and sides edged with white ; wings black ; with the outer webs of 

 the primaries and the distal area of the secondaries spotted heavily 

 with white; middle and greater coverts extensively white, forming a 

 broad, longitudinal stripe ; side of the head black, with a broad white 

 band from the nasal tufts back over the side of the head, and another 

 of the same color from back of the eye to the side of the nape ; throat 

 and upper foreneck red, with the concealed bases of the feathers 

 white ; a large patch of black with a bluish sheen on lower foreneck 

 and upper breast ; sides brownish white lined irregularly with black ; 

 center of breast and abdomen light yellow ; under tail coverts white ; 

 under wing coverts and axillars white, barred somewhat with slate. 



Adult female, similar, but with chin and upper throat white, 

 and crown varying from wholly red to wholly black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Canada and northern United 

 States), wing 122.1-127.9 (124.3), tail 68.2-74.6 (71.0), culmen 

 from base 21.0-24.9 (23.4), tarsus 20.0-21.8 (20.9) mm. 



Females (10 from Canada and northern United States), wing 

 120.7-127.0 (124.2), tail 64.2-75.5 (71.2), culmen from base 22.4- 

 25.0 (23.7), tarsus 19.8-21.3 (20.4) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Rare. 



The species was recorded first in the Republic by Griscom who 

 secured 1 on Cerro Flores in eastern Chiriqui in 1924. A female in 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology was taken by Benson on the 

 ridge at Quiel, above Boquete, Chiriqui, November 3, 1931. My 

 own collections include 2 females, 1 shot on Cerro Pando beyond 

 El Volcan, Chiriqui, February 11, 1960. I had report of another 

 seen near here at about this same time. The other specimen was 

 taken on the Rio Pequeni, eastern Province of Panama, near the 



