574 



NOUTII AMElilCAN BIRDS. 



Tliere aio four well-marked representatives of the typical genus Colaptes 

 belonging to Middle and North. America, three of them found within the 



Colni't'S aiirittits. 



limits of the United States, in addition to what has been called a hybrid 

 between two of them. The common and distinctive characters of these four 

 are as follows : — 



Species and Varieties. 



Common Ciiau.vcters. Head anil neck ashy or brown, unvaried except by a 

 black or red malar patch in tlie male. Back and wings brown, banded trans- 

 versely with black ; rump and upper tail-coverts white. Beneath wliitish, with 

 circular black spots, and bands on crissum ; a black pectoral crescent. Shafts and 

 under surfaces of quills and tail-feathers cither yellow or red, 

 A> Mustache red ; throat ash ; no red nuchal crescent. 

 a. Under surface and shafts of wings and tail red. 



1. C. mexicanoides.' Hood bright cinnamon-rufous ; feathers of 

 mustache black below surface. Upper parts barred with black and 

 whitish-brown, the two colors of about equal width. Shafts, etc., dull 

 brick-red. Runij) spotted with black ; black terminal zone of under 

 surface of tail narrow, badly defined. Wing, G.l") ; tail, 4.00; bill, 1.77. 

 Hab. Southeni Mexico and Guatemala. 



2. C. mezicanuB.' Hood nshy-olivaceons, more rufcscent anteriorly, 

 light cinnamon on lores and around eyes ; feathers of mustache light 

 ash below surface. I'ppcr parts umljor-brown, barred with l)lack, the 

 black only about one fourth as wide as the lirown. Shafts, etc., fine 

 salmon-red, or pinkish orange-red. Rump unspotted ; black terminal 



» Colaptes meyknmidcs, LAFr.. Rot. Zool. 1844, 42. — Sci,. & Sai.v. Iliis, 1859, 137. —Set.. 

 Catal. Am. B. 18(!2, 344. Culn/ifes rubricalm, GitAV, (Jen. B. pi. cxi. Oropicu.i nih. Mai.ii. 

 Monog. Pic. 11, 2t).''), pi. ox, fig.s. 1, 2. Picus suhmf.ricnnwi, .Sund. Coiisp. I'ic. 1806, 72. 



^ A series of hybrids between mexiciDiiin niul aural its is in the Smithsonian collection, these 

 specimens exhibiting every possible conibiuation of the characters of the two. 



