( 184 ) 

 COMMON THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



PiCUS HIBSUTUS, ViEILL. 

 PLATE CCCCXVII. Male and Female. 



The difference between this bird and that described in my second 

 volume under the name of Picus tridactylm was unknown to me until 

 clearly pointed out by the minute and accvu-ate description of Mr Swain - 

 SON in the Fauna Boreali- Americana. Indeed I had looked upon it 

 as the young of the species just mentioned. Not having met with it 

 myself, I can only refer you to the very short notice of Dr Richard- 

 son, who says : " This bird exists in all the forests of spruce-fir lying 

 between Lake Superior and the Arctic Sea, and it is the most com- 

 mon Woodpecker north of the Great Slave Lake. It much resembles 

 the P. villosus (by which I presume is meant P. Canadensis, as already 

 explained) in its habits, except that it seeks its food principally on de- 

 caying trees of the pine tribe, in which it frequently makes holes large 

 enough to bury itself. It does not migrate." 



I have represented the male and the female, from specimens lent 

 to me by the Council of the Zoological Society of London. 



Picus hiesuttts, Vieill., Ois. de rAmer. vol. ii. p. 124. ^ 



Picus (apternus) Tridactylus, Swainson, Common Theee-toed Woodpecker, 

 Richards, and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. iL p. 311, pi. 56. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCCXVII. Fig. 3. 



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

 sed at the base, compressed toward the tip, which is very slightly trun- 

 cate and cuneate. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the 

 ridge very narrow, the sides sloping and flat, the lateral angle much 

 nearer the edge, which is sharp, direct, and overlapping. Lower man- 

 dible with the angle short and rather wide, the dorsal line straight, the 

 ridge narrow, the sides convex, the edges inflected, the tip pointed. 

 Nostrils oblong, basal, concealed by the feathers, and placed near the 

 margin. 



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



