180 Brewster's Descriptions of the First Plumage 



nape dull, unspotted black, and a decided greenish-yellow tinge to the 

 white both above and below. 



First plumage : female. Forehead slightly spotted with white ; crown- 

 patch scarlet, exactly as in the male. Nape unspotted. Beneath brownish- 

 white, barred obscurely upon the flanks and spotted continuously across 

 the breast Avith dusky. From a specimen in my collection obtained by 

 Mr. W. D. Scott, at Coalburgh, W. Va., July 25, 1872. Another speci- 

 men before me (Upton, Me., August 13, 1874) has the forehead and occi- 

 put, with a narrow median line connecting them, thickly spotted with 

 white, but no scarlet. Still a third, in the collection of Mr. C. J. May- 

 nard, has the crown irregvilarly patched with scarlet feathers. The sex of 

 all these specimens was determined by the most careful dissection. 



95. Picoides arcticus. 



First plumage : male. Similar to the adult, but with the yellow crown- 

 patch rather more restricted ; the black of the upper parts duller ; the 

 white beneath tinged with brownish, and the bars upon the sides dusky 

 instead of black. A few feathers upon the lower interscapular region are 

 spotted with white. From a specimen in my collection shot at Upton, 

 Me., July 31, 1874. Unfortunately no females in strictly first plumage 

 are available for comparison. A moulting specimen, however, which has 

 acquired most of the second or autumnal plumage (Upton, Me., August 

 10, 1874), shows a patch of thickly sprinkled yellow feathers upon the 

 crown, while another, taken as late as September 5, still retains several 

 similar feathers. There can be little doubt but that among a good series 

 of young females in first plumage many would be found to occur with 

 yellow crown-patches quite conspicuously developed. All among a large 

 number of adult females examined have the crown entirely plain. 



96. Sphyrapicus varius. 



First plumage : male. Crown dull yellowish-green obscurely tinged in 

 places with dusky-red ; nape and a broad stripe extending through and 

 behind the eye dull plumbeous-ash spotted with brownish-white ; rest of 

 upper parts like the adults, the white spots, however, tinged with pale 

 greenish-yellow. Throat dull yellowish-scarlet. Malar stripes meeting 

 below the throat-patch, mottled with dusky. Central line of abdomen 

 greenish-yellow ; rest of under parts dull greenish and olive, barred every- 

 where with dusky or dull black. From a specimen in my collection shot 

 at Upton, Me., August 10, 1874. The amount of variation exhibited by a 

 large series of males in first plumage is considerable. In one or two there 

 is no red upon the throat ; in others that part is brownish-white with a 

 few scattered red feathers ; many have the crown dull-brown, thickly 

 spotted with brownish- white. 



First plumage : female. Crown very pale greenish-buft', each feather 

 narrowly tipped with brown ; feathers of interscapular region dusky, with 



