LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 157 



tail-coverts with a few black spots ; legs, toes, and claws, 

 lead colour. 



The whole length five inches and three-quarters. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing three inches and 

 three-eighths : the first feather very short ; the second the 

 same length as the seventh ; the third, fourth, and fifth, 

 nearly equal in length, but the fourth rather the longest in 

 the wing. 



The top of the head in the female is of a dirty brownish 

 white, without any appearance of red feathers ; the white 

 patches about the ear-coverts occupy more space than in 

 the males, and the under surface of the body is tinged with 

 dull pale brown. 



Young male birds of the year assume the red colour on 

 the top of -the head during their first autumn. 



The vignette below represents the tongue and its glands 

 in the head of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, of the na- 

 tural size, as seen when the skin is removed. The struc- 

 ture is the same in the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, except 

 that all the parts in the latter are much smaller. 



