182 MARIA'S WOODPECKER. 



Picus Martina. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCCXVII. Fig. 1. 



Bill about the length of the head, straight, strong, angular, com- 

 pressed toward the tip, which, however, is not truncate, but very slightly 

 cuneate or worn on the sides. With this exception it is very similar 

 to that of Picus xillosus and P. Canadensis. Upper mandible with the 

 dorsal line almost straight, being very slightly convex, the ridge very 

 narrow, the sides sloping and flat, or slightly concave, the lateral angle 

 or ridge about half-way at its commencement between the ridge and 

 the margin, but in its course gradually approximating the latter, and 

 ending upon it about a fourth from the tip, edges sharp, direct, over- 

 lapping, tip rather acute. Lower mandible with the angle short and 

 rather wide, the crural line a little concave, the dorsal ascending and 

 slightly convex, the ridge narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp 

 and inclinate, the tip narrow. Nostrils oblong, basal, concealed by the 

 feathers, and placed near the margin. 



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

 tarsus short, compressed, feathered anteriorly about half-way down, 

 with five large scutella in the rest of its extent, scaly and sharp-edged 

 behind ; toes four ; first small and stout ; fourth longest and directed 

 backwards ; second and third toe united at the base ; all scutellate 

 above. Claws large, much curved, compressed, laterally grooved, very 

 acute. 



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

 stiffish feathers on each side of the base of the upper mandible, con- 

 cealing the nostrils ; the feathers in the angle of the lower mandible 

 also stiffish, elongated and directed forwards. Wings rather long ; the 

 first quill very small, being only an inch and five-twelfths long, the 

 second half an inch shorter than the third, which is half a twelfth 

 shorter than the fourth, the latter being the longest, and exceeding the 

 fifth by two-twelfths ; secondaries broadly rounded. Tail of moderate 

 length, cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the lateral, which are 

 rounded and unworn, are only an inch and a twelfth long, the next, also 

 unworn, are one inch shorter than the middle, which are pointed but 

 slit, having the shaft broken off at a little distance from the tip, all 

 the rest more or less pointed, and either entire or slit. 



Bill dusky. Iris brown. Feet bluish-grey. The upper parts are 

 black spotted with white, the lower greyish- white. The tufts of bristly 



