AUDUBON'S WOODPECKER. 195 



angle rather long and narrow, the ridge very narrow, the sides convex, 

 the edges sharp and inflected. Nostrils basal, oblong, near the edge, 

 and concealed by the feathers. 



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

 short ; tarsus feathered anteriorly nearly half-way down, scutellate in 

 the rest of its extent, and having a series of large scales internally be- 

 hind ; toes fom- ; the first very short, the fourth longer than the third, 

 which is united with the second at the base. Claws large, well curved, 

 extremely compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



Plumage very soft, full, and blended. Wings rather long, the first 

 quill only an inch and a twelfth in length, the second five-twelfths 

 shorter than the third, which is one-twelfth shorter than the fourth, 

 and an inch longer than the sixth. Tail of moderate length, cuneate, 

 of twelve feathers, of which the outer is only eight-twelfths long, the 

 next ten-twelfths shorter than the longest. 



Bill greyish-blue. Iris brown. Feet bluish-grey, claws brown. 

 The upper parts are black ; the tufts covering the nostrils white ; on 

 the anterior part of the top of the head are some feathers largely tip- 

 ped with yellow, a band of white passes over the eye ; the loral space 

 and that behind the eye are black ; a band of white passes from the 

 angle of the mouth to the side of the occiput, and beneath it is a nar- 

 row band of black ; the feathers along the middle of the back are tipped 

 with white ; the wings are spotted with white, some of the smaller co- 

 verts, the larger coverts, and all the quills being marked with that co- 

 lour, of which there are six spots on the outer and four on the inner 

 web of the longer primaries ; the first primary has a slight spot at the 

 base of the outer web, and two spots on the inner ; the second has 

 two spots on the outer, and three on the inner web, all the primaries 

 except the two outer have a terminal white spot, the secondaries two, 

 one on the outer, the other on the inner web. The four middle tail- 

 feathers are black, the rest white toward the end, that colour enlarging 

 so as to include almost the whole of the outer feathers. The lower 

 parts are dull white, having a tinge of brown, the sides very faintly 

 barred with dusky. 



Length to end of tail 7 inches ; extent of wings 13^ ; bill along the 

 ridge ^^l, along the edge of lower mandible 1 ; wing from flexure 4i ; 

 tail 2j% ; tarsus 1% ; hind toe f'^, its claw 1^^ ; second toe j^^, its claw 

 j\ ; third toe f^, its claw |^ ; fourth toe ||, its claw ^^g. 



