PICID^ — THE WOODPECKERS. 515 



Picus scalaris, Waglek. 



LADDEE-BACKED WOODPECKER. 



Picus scalaris, Wagler, I.sis, 1829, V, 511 (Mexico). — Bonap. Consp. 1850, 138. — ScL. 

 P. Z. S. 1856, 307. — SuNU. Consp. 18. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 94, pi. xli, f. 1. 

 — Ib. Rep. Mex. Bound. II, 4, pi. iii. — Scl. Cat. 1862, 333. — Cass. P. A. N. S. 

 1863, 195. —Gray, Cat. 1868, 48. — Heerm. X, c, p. 18. —Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 

 1870, 379. Picus {Dyctiopicus) scalaris, Bon. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Dyc- 

 tiujnpo scalaris. Cab. & Hein. Mus. 74. Picus gracilis. Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, 90 

 (Mexico). Picus parvus, Cabot, Boston Jour. N. H. V, 1845, 90 (Sisal, Yucatan). 

 Picus Orizaba;, Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1863, 196 (Orizaba). Picus hogotus, Cassin, Pr. 

 A. N. S. 1863, 196 ; Jour. A. N. S. V, 1863, 460, pi. Hi, f. 1 (Mex.). Picus hairdi 

 (Scl. MSS.), Malhekbe, Mon. Pic. I, 118, t. xxvii, f. 7, 8. —Scl. Cat. 333, (?) P. Z. S. 

 64, 177 (city of Max.). —Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 76. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. S, 

 ,1863, 196. — Coues, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 52 (perhaps var. graysoni). — Dresser, Ibis, 

 1865, 468. Hab. Texas and New Mexico, to Arizona ; south through Eastern Mexico 

 to Yucatan. Picus scalaris, var. graysoni, Baird, MSS. Hab. Western Arizona ; 

 Western Mexico and Tres Marias. 



Sp. Char. Back banded transversely with black and white from nape to rump (not 

 upper tail-coverts). Quills and coverts with spots of white; forming bands on the 

 secondaries. Two white stripes on sides of head. Top of head red, spotted with white. 

 Nasal tufts brown. Beneath brownish-white, with black spots on sides, becoming bands 

 behind. Outer tail-feathers more or less banded. Length, about 6.50; wing, 3.50 to 

 4.50 ; tail, about 2.50. 



Hab. Gruatemala, Mexico, and adjacent southern parts of United States. Localities: 

 Xalapa (Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 367) ; Cordova (Scl. 1856, 357) ; Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 

 136) ; Orizaba (Scl. Cat. 333) ; S. E. Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468, breeds) ; W. 

 Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 52) ; Yucatan (Lawr. Ann. N. Y. Lye. IX, 205). 



In the above diagnosis we have endeavored to express the average of 

 characters belonging to a Woodpecker to which many names, based on 

 trifling geographical variations, have been assigned, but which legitimately 

 can be only considered as one species. This is among the smallest of the 

 North American Woodpeckers, and in all its variations the wings are long, 

 reaching as far as the short feathers of the tail. The upper parts generally 

 are black, on the back, rump, and exposed feathers of the wings banded 

 transversely with white, the black bands rather the narrower ; the quills and 

 larger coverts spotted with the same on botli webs, becoming bands on the 

 innermost secondaries. The upper tail-coverts and two inner tail-feathers 

 on either side are black. The white bands of the back extend all the wav 

 up to the neck, without any interscapular interruption. The under parts 

 are of a pale smoky brownish- white, almost with a lilac tinge ; on the sides 

 of the breast and belly are a few scattered small but elongated spots. The 

 posterior parts of the sides under the wing and the under tail-coverts are 

 obscurely banded transversely witli black. The top of the head, extending 

 from a narrow sooty frontlet at the base of the bill to a short, broad nuchal 

 crest, is crimson in the male, each feather with a white spot between the 



