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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Sphyrapicus varius varius (Linnaeus) 

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 



Plate 62 



Picus varius Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:176 



DeKay. Zool. of N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 188, fig. 38 

 varius A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 



Sphyrapicus varius varius A. U. U. Uneck .List. lid. 3. 1910. p. 190. 



No. 402 



sphyrapicus, Gr. a?jpa, a hammer, and Lat. picus, a woodpecker; vdrius, Lat., 

 variegated 



Description. Male: Crown and throat bright red bordered with black; 

 a broad black crescent on the upper breast; upper parts variegated with black 



and yellowish white; a broad stripe of 

 white on the wing formed by the white 

 ends of the wing coverts; wing feath- 

 ers black, bar-spotted with white ; tail 

 feathers black, except inner webs of 

 middle pair; upper tail coverts mostly 

 white ; under parts more or less heavily 

 tinged with yellow, especially around 

 the margin of the black breast shield, 

 and the center of the belly; sides 

 dingy brownish white, variegated with 

 blackish. Female: Throat white in- 

 stead of scarlet; crown scarlet in 

 old females but black in young ones, 

 even through the second summer in 

 many specimens; otherwise like 

 male. Young: Similar to adult, but 

 browner, and lacking the black breast 

 shield, and the scarlet on crown 

 not showing till late in the first 

 autumn. 



Length 8-8.8 inches; extent 15-16; 

 wing 5; tail 3; bill 1. 



Yellow-bellied 



Photo by James H. Miller 

 sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius 

 varius (Linnaeus) 



Distribution. The Yellow-bellied 

 sapsucker breeds throughout the 

 boreal life zone of eastern America from the highlands of Pennsylvania, 

 Michigan and Minnesota northward to Quebec, Ungava and Mackenzie, 



