WOODPECKERS. 



429 



tributiou of the two colors elsewhere. A similar distribution of the colors is observable 

 in J-'icoides, a circumboreal genus of three-toed pied woodj)eckers, with a, yellow crown 

 in llie male. The Eurojieau species, J', tridacti/lux, is figured on the plate opjiosite 

 p. 42(3, in order to give an idea of this interesting genus, which inhabits the north- 

 ernmost forests in both hemispheres, but which also has a representative in the moun- 

 tains of Chinese Tibet, the sombre-colored P. fiinebris. 



FlO. 215. —Dryobatea medius, major, and minor, European midaie, greater and lesser woodpeckers. 



Finally, we have to consider the thin-necked woodjieckers, a group of large forms, 

 which have the feathers of the neck peculiarly short, thereby increasing the appear- 

 ance of slendernoss of the neck. That the neck of the woodpecker is usuiilly smaller 

 than the head, most collectoi-s have discovered when skinning specimens, but exter- 

 nally this feature is most apparent in the present group. Most of the species are very 

 large and powerful birds, with a considerable amount of black in their plumage, while 

 the head, as usual, is adorned with more or less red. Here belongs the well-known 

 great black woodpecker {Dryocojncs martius), which inhabits the Pala3arctic region 



