io BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



PAMPAS WOODPECKER 



Colaptes agricofa 



Above greyish white, transversely barred with black ; wings black 

 with golden-yellow shafts, and white bars on the outer webs ; rump 

 white with small black cross-bars ; crested head black ; sides of head 

 and neck in front yellow; malar stripe red; length 13 inches. 

 Female similar, but without the red malar stripe. 



THE species commonly called Carpintero in the 

 Argentine country, and ranging south to Patagonia, 

 is one of a group of the Picidas of South America 

 which diverge considerably in habits from the typical 

 Woodpeckers* On trees they usually perch horizon- 

 tally and crosswise, like ordinary birds, and only 

 occasionally cling vertically to trunks of trees, using 

 the tail as a support. They also seek their food 

 more on the ground than on trees, in some cases 

 not at all on trees, and they also breed oftener in 

 holes in banks or cliffs than in the trunks of trees* 

 As Darwin remarks in The Origin of Species, in his 

 chapter on Instinct, these birds have, to some slight 

 extent, been modified structurally in accordance with 

 their less arboreal habits, the beak being weaker, the 

 rectrices less stiff, and the legs longer than in other 

 Woodpeckers* In South Brazil and Bolivia the 

 Colaptes campestris represents this group, in Chili 

 C* pitius, and in the Argentine country C* agricola. 



Azara's description, under the heading El Cam- 

 pestre, probably refers to the Brazilian species, but 

 agrees so well in every particular with the Pampas 



