GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 157 



side of the neck divides, one stripe passing forwards to the 

 base of the beak, the other backwards towards the wings ; 

 the back, rump, and tail-coverts, black ; the scapulars white, 

 forming an elongated patch ; the smaller and the outer larger 

 wing-coverts black ; the inner larger wing-coverts white, 

 and partly hid by the scapulars ; the quill-feathers black, 

 with from two to five well-defined, rather elongated white 

 patches on the outer web of each feather, and rounded 

 patches of white on the inner web, the two middle tail- 

 feathers the longest, and wholly black, pointed, and some- 

 what worn at the ends ; the two next in succession, on each 

 side, also black, tipped with white at the end, and similarly 

 pointed ; the next black and white, with some black form- 

 ing bars on the white ; the outer feather on each side with 

 the ends rounded and entire. The throat, neck, breast, 

 and belly, dirty white ; vent and under tail-coverts red. 



The whole length of an adult bird is nine inches and a 

 half. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing five 

 inches and a quarter : the first feather very short ; the 

 second shorter than the seventh, but longer than the eighth ; 

 the third, fourth, and fifth, as long as the seventh ; the 

 sixth feather the longest in the wing. 



The adult female has no red colour on the head or oc- 

 ciput. 



The young birds of the year, of both sexes, are a little 

 smaller in size, and though not differing in plumage from 

 the parent birds in other respects, they have the top of the 

 head red, the occiput black, and these colours they retain 

 till their first moult, which probably, from the observation 

 of Mr. Selby, is not completed till late in the year. This 

 red colour covers the whole of the top of the head, but is 

 not so bright in tint as the occipital patch of the old male, 

 and is sometimes mixed with a few black feathers. In 

 this state of plumage this young bird has been confounded 



