82 



U. S. p. R. R EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT, 



In the male the entire crown (with its elongated feathers) is black. The scarlet commences 

 just above the middle of the eye, and, jjassing backwards a short distance, widens behind and 

 bends down as far as the level of the under edge of the lower jaw. The feathers, which spring 

 from the back of the head, are much elongated above ; considerably longer than those of the 

 crown. 



List of specimens. 



CAMPEPHILUS IMPERIALIS. 



Imperial Woodpecker. 



Ficns imperittlis, Gould, Pr. Comra. Sc. Zool. Soc. II, 1832, 140. — Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 313. — Ib. Birds Am. 



IV, 1842, 213, (no fig.)— Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed., 1840, 667. 

 Dryocopus imperialis, Eon. Consp. 1850, 132. 



Megapicus imperialis, Bonap. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. May, 1854, 7. 

 Dryotomus imperialis, Cassin, Illust. I, 1855, 285 ; pi. xlix. 



Sp. Ch. — Entirely black ; a short scapular stripe, the whole of the tertiaries, secondaries, and the inner primaries, and the 

 under wing coverts, white. A broad depressed nuchal crest ; red in the male. Bill ivory white ; its bristly feathers black. 

 Length about 24 inches ; wing, 13.25 ; tail, 9.50. 



Hab. — Chiefly Central America and southwestern Mexico. 



This species, in form and general appearance, is very similar to the ivory bill woodpecker. 

 The bill, feet, wings, and tail are much the same. The principal difference, besides the much 

 greater size, is in the absence of the white line on the side of the neck of P. principalis, which 

 starts just behind the commissure, and runs into the scapular stripe common to both. The 

 bristly feathers along the base of the bill are black, instead of white. 



The feathers of the crown are black ; the posterior ones elongated, but not reaching back as 

 far as the elongated depressed occipital crest of scarlet. This color commences just above the 

 middle of the eye, (the eyelid being black, however,) and widens behind, so as to embrace the 

 entire back of the head. These feathers are, however, all white just below the scarlet. 



I have followed Audubon and Cassin in assigning this species to the United States, but it has 

 really no claim to being considered as one of our birds, no specimen having been actually taken 

 in our limits, nor probably coming within hundreds of miles of our southern border. The P. 

 lineatus given by Audubon I have omitted entirely, as being still less entitled to a place. 



Measurements. 



J From specimen In Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 



