GREY-HEADED OLIVE WOODPECKER. 155 



continued all over the remaining under parts. At 

 the bottom of the neck above, the grey is softened 

 into an olive yellow without any mixture of green ; 

 this spreads uniformly over the back and wings; 

 the quills are light brown, crossed and spotted with 

 fulvous white ; the rump and upper tail-covers, in 

 both sexes, are crimson. In the male there is a 

 rich crimson patch, commencing on the middle of 

 the crown and extending to the nape; the tail is 

 dark brown without any bands, except some whitish 

 spots on the inner and outer margins of the two last 

 pair of external feathers ; bill and legs, horn colour. 

 The form is typical of this sub-genus, the lateral 

 ridge being nearest the margin; the bill is ratner 

 higher than broad, and the hinder toe longest. 



Total length about 8 inches ; bill, front, 1 ; 

 wings, 4/o; tail beyond, 1^; base, 3; tarsus, T 6 S ; 

 hind claw, -f^. 



WITH the last sub-genus we quit the circle of the 

 pre-eminently typical woodpeckers ; those, in fact, 

 which from having the hinder toe longer than the 

 foremost, are endowed with the greatest power of 

 climbing. The next genus is Chrysoptilus^ in which 

 this proportion of the toes is not found ; that is to 

 say, the hinder toe is not longer than the correspond- 

 ing one in front ; there are other characters, such as 

 the gentle curvature of the culmen, or ridge of the bill, 

 which, in the last genus, is always perfectly straight. 



