180 RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 



the tip narrow. Nostrils linear-oblong, basal, concealed by the feathers, 

 and placed much nearer the margin than the ridge. 



Head rather large, ovate ; neck rather short ; body full. Feet very 

 short ; tarsus very short, feathered anteriorly one-third down, in the 

 rest of its extent covered with a few large scutella ; sharp-edged and 

 having internally small scutella behind ; toes four ; first toe small ; 

 fourth slightly longer than third ; second and third united at the base ; 

 claws large, much curved, compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



Plumage very soft, full, and blended. A tuft of reversed stiffish 

 feathers on each side of the base of the upper mandible, concealing the 

 nostrils ; the feathers at the angle of the lower mandible also stiffish. 

 Wings rather long ; the first quill very small, being only ten-twelfths 

 long, the second nine-twelfths shorter than the third, which is two- 

 twelfths shorter than the fourth, the latter being the longest, and ex- 

 ceeding the fifth by a twelfth and a half; secondaries rounded, and 

 somewhat emarginate. Tail of moderate length, cuneate, of twelve fea- 

 thers, of which the lateral is only eleven-twelfths long, and one inch 

 five and a half twelfths shorter than the next, which is eleven-twelfths 

 shorter than the middle, and slightly worn, the rest having the tip 

 slit, the shaft terminating abruptly. 



Bill bluish-grey, dusky toward the end. Feet bluish-grey, claws 

 brown. The upper part of the head, the neck all round, and a portion 

 of the breast deep carmine ; the tufts over the nostrils yellow, and from 

 them a white band to beneath the eye ; the feathers of the eyelids black ; 

 the middle of the breast and the abdomen yellow ; the feathers of the 

 sides of the body and rump, with the lower tail-coverts barred, or marked 

 with a pointed dusky spot, their edges yellowish-white. The upper 

 parts are black, the middle of the back spotted with yellowish-white, 

 the rump and upper tail-coverts white on the inner webs and toward 

 the tip on both. There is a large patch of white on the wing, formed 

 by some of the smaller coverts, the first row of small coverts and the 

 terminal portions of the outer webs of the secondary coverts. The 

 quills are black, the three longest with eight spots on the outer, and five 

 on the inner web, the second with foiu- on the inner web and two on the 

 outer, the first with two on the inner web ; the secondaries more or less 

 tipped with white, but several of them without spots on the outer web. 

 The tail-feathers are black, the two middle with three or four white 

 spots on the inner web, or white with several black bands. Sometimes 



