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



COLAPTES AURATUS, Swainson. 



Flicker; Yellow Shafted Woodpecker ; High Holder. 



Cuculus auralus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. x, 1758, I, 112. 



Picus auratus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, ed. xii, 1766, 174— Fouster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, .183.— Vieillot, Ois 



Am. Sept. II, 1807, 66 ; pi. cxxiii— Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1810, 45 ; pi. iii, f. ].— Wagler, Syst. 



Av. 1827, No. 84.— AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 191 : V, 540; pi. 37.— Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 



282 ; pi. 273. 

 Colaptes auratus, Sw. Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 353.— Ib. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 314.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Conspectus, 



1850, 113. 



Sp. Ch. — Shafts and under surfaces of wing and tail feathers gamboge yellow. A black patch on each side of the cheek. A 

 red crescent on the nape. Throat and stripe beneath the eye pale lilac brown. Back glossed with olivaceous green. Female 

 without the black check patch. 



Length, 12J inches ; wing, 6. 



Additional Characters. — A crescentic patch on the breast and rounded spots on the belly black. Back and wing coTerls 

 with interrupted transverse bands of black. Neck above and on sides ashy. 



Hab. — Eastern North America to the eastern slopes of Rocky mountains ; Greenland, (Reinhardt.) 



In this species the bill is slightly curved ; a little broader than deep. The first quill is very 

 short ; the third, fourth, and fifth about equal, and longest ; the second intermediate between 

 the seventh and eighth. 



The prevailing color of the back of this species is a light olivaceous brown, with a very slight 

 tinge of green ; each feather with a crescentic band of black near the end ; sometimes with 

 more. The top of the head and the upper part of the neck half way round are bluish ash ; the 

 former with a tinge of reddish brown, increasing to the base of the bill. The neck, throat, and 

 sides of the breast are of a pale purplish brown ; the sides of the head from the nostrils to 

 around the eye, and including the ear coverts, are similar, with, perhajis, more of a cinnamon 

 tinge. There is a black patch or whisker on the cheek, commencing at the base of the lower 

 mandible, and of that width, and enlarging as it extends backwards to its truncated posterior 

 extremity, which is nearly twice as high as anteriorly. There is a carmine red crescentic collar 

 on the nape, (in the ash color described,) the branches coming round to such an extent on the 

 side of the head that the eye (in the prepared skin) appears to be intermediate between it and 

 the nostrils. The rump is pure white ; the tail coverts barred transversely with White and 

 black. The lower parts are yellowish white, tinged with brownish ; each feather with a nearly 

 circular spot of black near the end ; these spots larger posteriorly and on the tail coverts. 



The under surfaces and shafts of the wing and tail feathers are bright gamboge yellow ; the 

 shafts above yellow on the uj^per surface. On the outer edges of the secondary quills are some 

 spots of the color of the back, forming a series of bars ; the primaries with only faint traces of 

 the same. The quills are margined near the basal portion of their edges with pale bufi" yellow, 

 of which color are the under wing coverts. The upper surfaces and tips of the tail feathers are 

 black ; the rest of the under surfaces gamboge yellow. The external tail feather has a few 

 indentations of paler yellow on the outer edge, and all (excepting the central) are slightly 

 tipped with the same. 



The female is almost precisely similar, except in lacking the black cheek patches ; this is, 

 however, obscurely indicated. The red nuchal band is persistent. 



Specimens vary in size of body and bill, size and exact shape of the spots on the under parts, 

 which are sometimes larger or smaller, sometimes slightly transverse, circular, or somewhat 



