152 



VERTEBRATES ! BIRDS. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, C. flaviventris, Sw., 



of the Rio Grande region, is nine and a half inches long, 



the wing five inches, with a square red patch on the crown. 



The Gila Woodpecker, C. uropygialis, Baird, of the 



Lower Colorado region, is nine inches long. 



The Genus Melanerpes comprises Woodpeckers which 

 have the back black, with or without a white rump, and 

 variable beneath, but without transverse bands. 



Fig. 96. The Red-headed Woodpecker, 



M. erythrocephalus, Sw., of North 

 America, east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, is nine and three fourths 

 inches long, the wing five and a 

 half inches, and the head and neck 

 all round crimson, margined with 

 a narrow crescent of black upon 

 the upper part of the breast ; the 

 back, primaries, and tail, black ; the 

 under parts, a broad band across 

 the middle of the wing, and the 

 rump, white. It excavates a hole 

 for its nest in a decaying tree ; eggs 

 four to six, pure white. 



The California Woodpecker, M. formicivorus, Bonap., 

 of California and eastward, is about nine inches long, the 

 wing five inches ; above and on the anterior half of the 

 body glossy black ; the top of the head and a short occip- 

 ital crest, red ; forehead, rump, and belly, white ; the sides 

 of head, chin, and broad pectoral band, black ; a collar 

 on the throat passing up before the eyes into the frontal 

 band, white tinged with yellow. 



Lewis's Woodpecker, M. torquattis, Bonap., of Western 

 North America, is ten and a half inches long, the wing 

 six and a half inches ; the color dark glossy green above ; 

 the breast, lower part of the neck, and a narrow collar 



Red-headed Woodpecker, 

 M. erythrocephalus, Sw. 



