^24 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Picus borealis, A^iEiLL. 



RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 



Picus borealis, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 66, pi. cxxii. — Stephens, in Shaw's 

 Gen. Zobl. IX, 1817, 174. — Baied, Birds N. Am. 1858, 96. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 

 1863, 201. — Gray, Catal. 1868, 50. —Allen, B. E. Fla. 305. — Sundevall, Consp. 

 1866, 21. Threnopipo borealis, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 70. Picas querulus, 

 Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 103, pi. xv, f. 1. — Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 21.— 

 Ib. Isis, 1829, 510. — AuD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 12, pi. ccclxxxix. — Ib. Birds Am. IV, 

 1842, 254, pi. cclxiv. — Bp. Consp. 1850, 137. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1863 (southernmost 

 race). Picus (Phrenopicus) querulus, Bp. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Picus leucotis, 

 Illiger (fide Lichtenstein in letter to Wagler ; perhaps only a catalogue name). — 

 Light. Verzeieh. 1823, 12, No. 81. Picus vieilloti, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 20. 



Sp. Char. Fourth quill (not counting the .spurious) longest. First nearer tip of fifth 

 than of sixth, intermediate between the two. Upper parts, with top and sides of the 

 head black. Back, rump, and scapulars banded transversely with white ; quills spotted 

 with white on both webs ; middle and greater coverts spotted. Bristles of bill, under 

 parts o-enerally, and a silky patch on the side of the head, white. Sides of breast and 

 body streaked with black. First and second outer tail-feathers white, barred with black 

 on inner web. Outer web of the third mostly white. A short, very inconspicuous 

 narrow streak of silky scarlet on the side of the head a short distance behind the eye, 

 alono- the junction of the white and black (this is wanting in the female) ; a narrow short 

 line of white just above the eye. Length, about 7.25 ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 3.25. 



Hab. Southern States, becoming very rare north to Pennsylvania. 



This species differs from the other banded Woodpeckers, as stated in the 

 diagnosis, in having a large patch of white behind the eye, including the 

 ears and sides of head, and not traversed liy a black post-ocular stripe. The 

 bands of the back, as in P. nuttalli, do not reach the nape, nor extend over 

 the upper tail-covert. The white patch occupies almost exactly the same 

 area as the black one in iiuttalli ; the white space covered by the supra- 

 orbital and malar stripes, and the white patch on side of nape, of the latter 

 species being here black. 



According to Mr. Cassin, southern specimens which he distinguishes as 

 P. querulus from P. borealis of Pennsylvania, differ in smaller number of 

 transverse bars on the back, and shorter quills, and in fewer white spots on 

 the wing-coverts and outer primaries. The black band on the back of neck 

 is wider. This therefore exhibits the same tendency to melanism, in more 

 southern specimens, that has been already indicated for P. villosus, scalaris, 



etc. 



Habits. The Eed-cockaded Woodpecker has a restricted distribution to the 

 Southeastern Atlantic States, being rarely met with so far north as Pennsyl- 

 vania. Georgia and Florida are the only localities represented in the Smith- 

 sonian collection, though other Southern States not named have furnished 

 specimens. It has been met with as far to the west as Eastern Texas and the 

 Indian Territory, where Dr. Woodhouse speaks of having found them com- 



