PICID^ — THE WOODPECKERS. 553 



mon, and Mr. Dresser found several nests in huge cottonwood-trees, but had 

 no means of getting to them. 



Mr. J. K. Lord assigns to this species a wide western range, being common 

 both east and west of the Cascades, and on the west slope of the Eocky 

 Mountains. He met with it north as far as Fort Eupert in Vancouver 

 Island, and soiitli through Oregon and California. He found them at Col- 

 ville during the winter. He states that they nest in May, generally in a 

 tall dead pine-tree, at a great height. 



Tor my first specimens of the eggs of this species I am under obligations 

 to Dr. Cornelius Kollock, of Cheraw, S. C. They were obtained by him 

 from excavations made in large trees at the height of about twenty-five feet 

 from the ground, and in localities at no great distance from the inhabited 

 parts of the country. 



The eggs of this species from South Carolina and Florida are of a very 

 brilliant crystalline whiteness, of a rounded-oval shape, and measure 1.25 

 inches in length by 1.02 in breadth. Northern specimens are probably 

 larger. 



Section CENTURE/E. 



The United States genera of this section are very similar to each other, 

 and may be most easily distinguished by color, as follows : — 



Centurus. Back and wings banded transversely with black and white. Crown more 

 or less red ; rest of head with under parts grayish, and with red or yellow tinge on the 

 middle of the abdomen. Rump white. 



Melanerpes. Upper parts uniform black, without bands, with or without a white 

 rump ; variable beneath, but without transverse bands. 



Genus CENTURUS, Swainson. 



Centurus, Sw. Class. Birds, II, 1837, 310. (Type, C. carolinus.) 

 Zehrajiicus, Malh. Mem. Acad. Metz, 1849, 360. (Type, C. carolinus.) 



GrEN. Char. Bill about the length of the head, or a little longer ; decidedly compressed, 

 except at the extreme base. A lateral ridge starting a little below the culmen at the base 

 of the bill, and angular for half the length of the bill, then becoming obsolete, though 

 traceable nearly to the tip. Culmen considerably curved from the base ; gonys nearly 

 straight. Nostrils very broad, elliptical ; situated about midway on the side of the man- 

 dible, near the base ; partly concealed. Outer pairs of toes unequal, the anterior toe 

 longest. Wings long, broad ; third to fifth primaries equal and longest. Tail-feathers 

 rather narrow, stiffened. 



The species are all banded above transversely with black and white ; the 

 rump white. The head and under parts are brown, or grayish, the latter 

 sometimes much the lighter. The belly with a red or yellow tinge. The 

 under tail-coverts with V-shaped dark marks. The North American species 

 of Centurus may be arranged as follows : — 



VOL. II. 70 



