92 THREE-TOED WOODPECKEE. 



taking the appearance of bands; tertiaries, dull black; larger 

 and lesser under wing coverts, white, barred -with black. The 

 tail, of twelve feathers, has the four middle feathers brownish 

 black, and acute; the next on each side also acute, black at 

 the base, yellowish white at the end, obliquely and irregularly 

 tipped with black; the two next are yellowish white at the tip, 

 banded with black on the inner web at the base, the outer 

 one of the two being somewhat rounded, and having the white 

 purer; the outermost one short and rounded, and banded 

 throughout with black and pure white; upper tail coverts, in 

 some specimens spotted a little with white; under tail coverts, 

 white, except at the base, where they partake of the black 

 waves of the breast. Legs, lead-coloured, feathered in front 

 for nearly half their length, the feathers white, slightly barred 

 with black; toes, lead-coloured; claws, lead-coloured, much 

 curved, and acute. 



The female is less than the male; head, on the sides and 

 back, glossy greenish black; she wants the yellow on the 

 crown, the top of the head being thickly spotted with white, 

 or, as described by Grould, white, interspersed with five black 

 bars. In other respects the female exactly resembles the male. 



In the young the bands on the side of the head are obscure 

 and narrower; the feathers of the crown are tipped with white, 

 constituting thick dots on that part, to which they give a 

 silvery appearance ; the yellow of the crown is gradually assumed 

 by the young male, being at first of a pale lemon-colour, 

 through which white dots are for some time seen; these are 

 very conspicuous in the female at first, without any yellow, 

 but she loses them entirely when adult; the neck on the back 

 is more or less varied with white. The breast is more thickly 

 waved with black ; the back is banded with white, which gives 

 to that part a waved appearance. The tail has six feathers 

 almost wholly black, and the outer ones have only two or 

 three whitish spots on the outer web. 



