446. 
447. 
448. 
449. 
486 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLA —PICIFORMES. 
S. va/rius. (Lat. varius, variegated. Fig. 33Q@ YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. ¢: 
Crown crimson, bordered all around with black ; ci, throat, and breast black, enclosing a large 
crimson pateh on the former (in the g; in the ? this patch white) ; sides of head with a white 
line starting from the nasal feathers and dividing the black of the throat from a trans-ocular 
black stripe, this separated from the black of the crown by a white pest-ocular stripe ; all these 
stripes frequently yellowish. Under parts dingy yellow, brownish and with sagittate dusky 
marks on the sides. Back variegated with black and yellowish. Wings black with a large 
oblique white bar on the coverts; the quills with numerous paired white spots on the edges 
of both webs. Tail black, most of the feathers white-cdged, the immer webs of the middle pair, 
and the upper coverts, mostly white. Biil 
brownish; feet greenish-plumbeous ;_ iris 
brown. Young birds lack the definite 
black areas of the head and breast, and the 
- crimson throat-pateh, these parts being 
mottled gray; but in any plumage the bird 
is recognized by its yellowness, different 
from what is seen in any other Eastern 
species, and the broad white wing-bar, to 
say nothing of the generic characters. 
Length 8.25-8.75 ; extent 15.00-16.00 ; 
wing 4.80-5.20; tail 3.50. Eastern N. 
Am., abundant in most U. S. loealities, 
resident in the South, migratory northerly ; 
N. to 61° at least ; W. to Dakota; 8. into 
Fic. 336, — Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, nat, size. (Ad Central Am. and W. I. The hyoid bones 
nat. del. E. C.) are the shortest of those of any N. Am. 
species ; the tongue is protrusible only about 4 inch beyond bill. Eggs 4-6, about 0.95 X 0.70. 
S.v. nucha/lis. (Lat. nuchalis, pertaining to mucha, the nape; not classic.) Nucnan Woop- 
PECKER. Like the last; with an additional band of scarlet on the nape (where the white is 
seldom even tinged with redin S. varius) ; red throat-patch invading the surrounding black, and 
? with this patch at least in part red ; all the yellowish variegation very pale, almost white on 
the belly (where varius is yellowest) ; bill slaty-black (not brownish). Size of varius. Roeky 
Mt. regien, U.S., abundant. In S. varius 
the red rarely spreads on the nape, and the 
Q seldom has any on the throat. In S. 
nuchalis this extension of red is a step 
which culminates in S. ruber. 
S. v. ru/ber. (Lat. ruber, red.) ReEp- 
BREASTED WooprEcKER. Like the last, 
but whole head, neck, and breast carmine- 
red, in both sexes, in which the markings 
of varius are more or less completely dis- 
solved, though usually traceable; gray in 
the young. Size of the last. Pacifie coast 
region, U.S. A remarkable extreme, long 
supposed to be perfectly distinet; now 
known to intergrade in every degree with F1G. 337. — Brown-headed Woodpecker (9), nat. size. 
nuchalis. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) 
S. thyroi/des. (Gr. 6upeoedns, thureoeides, shield-like ; Ovpeds, thureos, a shield; €i8os, 
resemblance ; alluding to the black plastron of the 9. Figs. 337, 388.) BrowWN-HBEADED 
— 
— ow 
