386 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



is rather a noisy bird, its emphatic and not disagreeable notes of 

 chuck, chuck, chuck, or chow, chow, chow, being frequently repeated. 



In contest with the Eed-headed Woodpecker it is, so far as I 

 have observed, invariably vanquished. 



In the northern portion of the state it is comparatively rare, and 

 alfo said to be only a summer resident. Mr. H. K. Coale informs 

 me that he saw a pair in Lincoln Park, Chicago, in July, and that 

 they were evidently breeding there, as he saw one of them come 

 out of a hole in the dead top of an oak tree. 



Genus COLAPTES Swainson. 



Colaptes Swainson, Zool. Jour, iii, Dec. 1827, 353. Type Cuculus auraius Linn, 



"Gen. Chab. Bill slender, depressed at the base, then compressed. Culmen imioh 

 curved, gonys straight; both with acute ridges, and coming to quite a sharp point with 

 the commissure at the end; the bill consequently not truncate at the end. No ridges on 

 the bill. Nostrils basal, median, oval and exposed. Gonys very short; about hall the 

 culmen. Feet large, the anterior outer toe considerably longer than the posterior. Tail 

 long, exceeding the secondaries; the feathers suddenly acuminate, with elongated 

 points." [Hist. N. Am. B.) 



Excluding the G. chiysoides, Malh., which is confined to the ex- 

 treme southwestern portion of the Union, (Arizona and southern 

 California), the two remaining North American species of Colaptes 

 may be distinguished as follows: 



Common Chakactebs . Head and neck ashy or brown, unvaried except by a black or 

 red malar patch in the male, and sometimes, in both sexes, a scarlet occipital patch. 

 Back and wings brown, banded transversely with black; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white. Beneath whitish, witli circular black spots, and bands on crissum; a black pec- 

 toral crescent. Shafts and under surfaces of quills and tail-feathers either yellow orred. 



1. C, auratus. Under surface and shafts of wings and tail rich golden yellow. A red 

 nuchal crescent. Throat pinliish, top of head ashy. Male with tho "moustaches" 

 glossy black. Hab. Eastern North America, 



2. C, mexicanus. Under surface and shafts of wings and tail pinkish red. No red 

 nuchal crescent. Throat ash, top of head brownish. Male with the "moustaches" 

 bright red. Hab. Western North America. 



Distinct as these two forms appear to be, they are yet connected 

 by a series of intermediate specimens which have been a great 

 puzzle to ornithologists. This intermediate series is further con- 

 sidered under the head of C. hyhridus on page 387. 



