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U. S. p. E. IJ. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENEEAL EEPOET. 



List of specimens. 



CENTURUS FLAVIVENTKIS, Swains on. 



Yellow-liellied Woodpecker. 



Centv^us Jlaviventris, Swainsok, Anim. in Menag., 1838, (2| centenaries) 354. 



Centurus elegans, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, May, 1851, 116. 



Centurus santacruzii, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, 1851, 123, (not of Bonap.) 



Sp. Ch. — Fourth and fifth quills nearly equal ; third a little shorter ; longer than the fourth. Back banded transversely with 

 black and white ; rump and upper tail coverts pure white. Crown with a sub-quadrate spot of crimson, about half an inch wide 

 and long, and separated from the gamboge yellow at the base of the bill by dirty white ; from the orbit and occiput by brownish 

 ash. Nape half way round the neck orange yellow. Under part generally, and sides of head dirty white, Middle of belly 

 gamboge yellow. Tail feathers all entirely black, except the outer, which has some obscure bars of white. Length about 9J 

 inches ; wing 5. 



Female without the red of the crown. 



Hab. — Rio Grande region of the United States, south into Mexico. 



This species is nearly as large as tlie C. caroUnus, although differing appreciahly in the color 

 of the crown and nape^ the yellow nape, yellow helly, immaculate inner tail feathers, &c. The 

 bands on the hack are of the same size and general character as in 0. carolinus ; the hack has, 

 however, a hrownish yellow wash. The orange yellow of the nape is ahout half an inch long. 

 Along the base of the upper mandible the color is gamboge yellow. The under tail coverts are 

 white. with V shaped marks of black. 



In the young male the occiput as well as nape are gamboge yellow ; the feathers of the 

 under parts faintly streaked with black. The iris is red. 



Specimens of a Lower California or Mexican Centurus, in the Smithsonian collection, at one 

 time supposed to be O. flaviventris, have the wing considerably longer, (5^ inches) ; the fourth 

 and fifth quills longest ; the third but little less. The white transverse marks on the back are 

 much narrower. The entire crown is crimson red, bordered laterally and behind with orange 

 yellow ; the white band separating the red of the crown from the yellow of the bill is purer 



