100 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Zoological Gardens. I am afraid it is not very likely 

 to oome into private hands in future, on account of the 

 <?t?ictnees of the United States' protective laws. 



WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER (Melanerprx ctmdidu*). 



Above brownish-black ; six central tail-feathers with 

 ;he baisul half white barred towards distal extremity 

 with blac-k ; the two outer feathers with their inner 

 webs whit barred with black ; head, sides, and front 

 of neck and under surface of body white ; a lemon- 

 yellow nuchal band; a black stripe on ear-coverts run- 

 ning into the black on hind neck ; middle of chest 

 sometimes tinged with yellow. Female differs in having 

 a. white instead of yellow nuchal band and in her shorter 

 bill, less slender towards the tip. Hab. , Southern and 

 Eastern Brazil northward to Bahia, Bolivia. Paraguay, 

 the Argentine Republic, and southward to Lower 

 Uruguay. (Hargitt.) 



All that Hudson tells us respecting this species 

 r- Argentine Ornithology," Vol. II., p. 2o) is: " White 

 speaks of this species as follows: 'These noisy birds, 

 abundant in various parts of Misiones, as well as in 

 the rest of the north of the Republic, go about in 

 flecks of eight or ten, and settle on the same tree, which 

 they proceed to ascend very comically in a spiral or 

 corkscrew fashion, each head touching the preceding 

 tail. They are not seen in dense forests, but only out 

 in the open, on some old, usually dead, tree, and I 

 think I observed them as far south as the sierras of 

 Cordoba.' " 



Mr. J. Graham Kerr, writing on the Avifauna of 

 the Lower Pilcomayo (The Ibis, 1892, p. 135), says of 

 this species : " Very uncommon. The stomachs of two 

 individuals examined contained only honey." This 

 (seems strange food for a W T oodpecker. 



On the Gran Chaco, Mr. Kerr observed this species 

 in October and November " Singly or in small parties 

 of three or four," (Tin- Una, 1901, p. 228.) 



All that Burmeister tells us about the wild life is 

 that it lives alone in the dense primeval forest, and is 

 only seen in pairs at the breeding season, and this does 

 not agree with what White and Graham Kerr say, so 

 that we learn nothing by it. The London Zoological 

 Gardens received a specimen in exchange in 1871, and 

 there is not the least reason whv it should not be sent 

 home in consignments of birds from Argentina. 



BANDED WOODPECKER (Melanerpes tricolor).* 

 Above black barred with white, the flights, excepting 

 the distal half at least of the primaries, spotted with 

 white ; central tail-feathers barred on inner web and 

 spotted toward^ base of outer web with whits ; the 

 outer tail-feather .spotted on margin of outer web and 

 tip of inner web ; forehead sordid white, yellowish at 

 and on nasal plumes; centre of crown crimson, 

 shading into orange-brown behind; nape red; out;--r 

 margin of crown, face, neck, and under surface pale 

 huffish drab, becoming orange-red on abdomen ; cheeks 

 slightly yellower ; chin whiter ; thighs and under tail- 

 coverts with black V-shaped markings; under wing- 

 coverts white, slightly barred with dusky ; axillanes 

 dull huffish white'; iridefi hazel. Female smaller than 

 Tiale, with shorter bill broader at base ; the crown not 

 crimson, but buffish brown in front shading into yel- 

 lowish a,hy -brown behind and bounded on nape by a 

 red diffused, border. Hab., United States of Colombia 

 and east into Venezuela. (Hargitt.) 



Mr. P. R. Lowe, writing on the birds of Margarita 



* In th<? " Biolog-ia Centrali-Ame.ric^na," Meesre. SaWm and 

 Godmnn proposo to alter th(> name of tins species to Melanerpes 

 watjleri. Mr. 1'. . T,owe. however (The IMs, 1907), adopts 

 Bonaparte's name of subelegans. 



Island, Venezuela \Tlu- Ibi-<, 1907, p. 560), says : " Very 

 common among the foot-hills and cactus-scrub. I shot 

 one with its head infested with worms. It had become 

 virtually blind a fact due to two enormous bulging 

 prominences on either side of the head which encroached 

 upon the orbits.'' 



This is all I have come acrcss respecting the bird in 

 its wild stale, but I should imagine it would net differ 

 greatly iu its habits from other Red-bellied Wood- 

 peckers. 



An example of this pretty little species (it is not 

 7 inches long) was purchased by the London Zoological 

 Society, and exhibited in the Gardens at Regent's Park 

 in June, 1870. In his work, Dr. Russ dees not mention 

 the species, but applies the name " Banded pigmy 

 Woodpecker" to 1'irnintni* <-irr/i'ifn.<. 



SANTA-CRUZ WOODPECKER (Melam-i-pf* .^i/tf/imizi). 



Upper surface barred black and white, the latter 

 tinged with buff ; central tail-i'eatheia spotted with 

 white on inner web, the outer web striped with white 

 at base : front of forehead red or orange, divided from 

 the red of the crown by a dirty bumslr frontal band ; 

 under surface brownish drab washed with buffish behind 

 the chest; thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts buffish 

 white with dull blackish bars ; under wing-coverts dis- 

 tinctly barred with black. Female with crown creamy- 

 white shading into greyish-brown at back, the nape 

 only being red. Hab., San Salvador, Honduras. Guate- 

 mala. Southern and Eastern Mexico, as far north as 

 Tampico. (Hargitt.) 



This is regarded as a sub-species of the Golden- 

 fronted Woodpecker (M. frontali*) of the United States. 

 Of the latter Major Bendire says (" Life Histories,"' 

 Vol. II., p. 126): "Their food "consists of infects of 

 various kinds, such as beetles, ants, grasshoppers, also 

 larv;e, acorns, Indian corn, and different kinds of wild 

 berries and fruit. 



" Xidification commences sometimes in the latter part 

 of March, but usually not much before the middle of 

 April ; both sexes assist in this labour, and it takes 

 from six to ten days to excavate a proper nesting site ; 

 both live and dead trees are used for th : <s purpose, as- 

 well as telegraph poles and fence posts. The holes are 

 rarely over 12 inches deep, and are situated at no great 

 distances from the ground, mostly from 6 ft. to 25 ft. 

 up. From four to seven eggs are laid to a set, usually 

 five or six ; these are pure white ; the shell is close 

 grained, dull looking, with little or no gloss, and vary- 

 ing in shape from ovate to short and rounded ovate. 

 " Incubation lasts about fourteen days, and both bexes 

 share this dutv." 



An example of the Santa-Cruz Woodpecker was 

 brought home from Venezuela in 1906, and presented by 

 the collector, Capt. Albert Pam, to the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of London. 



HAIRY WOODPECKER (Dendrocopus rlllosus). 

 Above black ; back with a broad* median white* 

 stripe ; wing-feathers, excepting leaser coverts, white- 

 spotted ; four central tail-feathers uniform black, the- 

 next with distal half-white, two outer feather.- white 

 with black basal ispot ; iu,sal plumes buffish white, 

 tipped with black; a scarlet occipital, bond, above 

 which runs a white stripe continued on each side of 

 the head and forming an eyebrow-stripe : a second 

 white stripe from base of upper mandible to side _ of 

 hind neck; below pure white; a 'black stripe bounding 

 the throat continued on to side of chest; under wing- 

 coverts with one or two black spots, and a black patch 

 on edge of wing. Female without scarlet occipital' 

 band and the white eyebrow stripes barely united- 



