92 THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 
taking the appearance of bands; tertiaries, dull black; larger 
and lesser under wing coverts, white, barred with black. The 
tail, of twelve feathers, has the four middle feathers brownish 
black, and acute; the next on each side also acute, black at 
the base, yellowish white at the end, obliquely and irregularly 
tipped with black; the two next are yellowish white at the tip, 
banded with black on the inner web at the base, the outer 
one of the two being somewhat rounded, and having the white 
purer; the outermost one short and rounded, and banded 
throughout with black and pure white; upper tail coverts, in 
some specimens spotted a little with white; under tail coverts, 
white, except at the base, where they partake of the black 
waves of the breast. Legs, lead-coloured, feathered in front 
for nearly half their length, the feathers white, slightly barred 
with black; toes, lead-coloured; claws, lead-coloured, much 
curved, and acute. 
The female is less than the male; head, on the sides and 
back, glossy greenish black; she wants the yellow on the 
crown, the top of the head being thickly spotted with white, 
or, as described by Gould, white, interspersed with five black 
bars. In other respects the female exactly resembles the male. 
In the young the bands on the side of the head are obscure 
and narrower; the feathers of the crown are tipped with white, 
constituting thick dots on that part, to which they give a 
silvery appearance; the yellow of the crown is gradually assumed 
by the young male, being at first of a pale lemon-colour, 
through which white dots are for some time seen; these are 
very conspicuous in the female at first, without any yellow, 
but she loses them entirely when adult; the neck on the back 
is more or less varied with white. The breast is more thickly 
waved with black; the back is banded with white, which gives 
to that part a waved appearance. The tail has six feathers 
almost wholly black, and the outer ones have only two or 
three whitish spots on the outer web. 
