29 



entirely wanting. Rest of upper parts dull dead black, marked and 

 spotted with white as in the adult. Lores yellowish- white, maxillary line 

 very faintly indicated. Beneath soiled yellowish-wliite. From a speci- 

 men in my collection shot at Upton, Me., August 1, 1874. The first 

 plumage of this species is exceedingly evanescent. The scarlet patch 

 upon the crown is soon lost, the feath'ers dropping out one by one ; a few 

 scattered ones, however, usually remain until the feathers of the nuchal 

 crescent have begun to appear. 



A female in first plumage (Upton, Me., August 20, 1874) differs so , 

 little from adults as scarcely to require a detailed description. The black 

 of the upper parts, as in the male just described, is of a dead or plumbe- 

 ous cast. The crown is entirely unspotted. I have, however, seen speci- 

 mens which had the forehead spotted with white. 



93. Picus villoBUS harrisi. 



First plwmage: male. Differs from the adult only in having the fore- 

 head spotted with white, and a. patch of scarlet covering -the crown. 

 From a specimen in my cabinet collected by Mr. C. A. Allen at Nicasio, 

 Cal., June 8, 1875. 



94. Picus pubescens. 



First plumage : male. Forehead and nape thickly spotted with white 

 Crown deep scarlet ; no red on nape ; rest of upper parts marked as in the 

 adult, but the black duller. Beneath ashy-white, thickly streaked on the 

 sides of the breast and body with dusky ; on the sides of the abdomen 

 these dusky markings assume the character of broad though poorly defined 

 transverse bars. From a specimen in my cabinet collected at Upton, Me., 

 August 14, 1874. Several other young males show a considerable amount 

 of variation in the character and extent of the dusky markings beneath. 

 In one or two the streaks are nearly continuous across the breast and abdo- 

 men. A very young male (Upton, August 1, 1874) has the forehead and 

 nape dull, unspotted black, and a decided greenish-yellow tinge to the 

 white both above and below. 



First plumage : female. Forehead slightly spotted with white ; crown- 

 patch scarlet, exactly as in the male. Nape unspotted. Beneath brownish- 

 white, barred obscurely upon the flanks and spotted continuously across 

 the breast with dusky. From a. specimen in my collection obtained by 

 Mr. "W. D. Scott, at Coalburgh, W. Va., July 25, 1872. Another speci- 

 men before me (Upton, Me., August 13, 1874) has the forehead and occi- 

 put, with a narrow median line connecting them, thickly spotted with 



certain proportion of the females in first plumage possess to a greater or less 

 degree the adornments which in more advanced stages are peculiar to the 

 males alone, and which are lost with the first moult. Marked examples of this 

 are afforded by young females of Colaples auratiis, Picus pubesceiis, and others, o^ 

 which detailed descriptions are given in the text. 



