402 PICID^. 



within our limits, all of them belonging to one section of the genus, and that of 

 northern domicile. Of these three species, one (C mexicanus) has a wide range in 

 western North America and throughout the Mexican highlands, C. chrysoides is 

 restricted to the countries bordering the Gulf of California, and C. mencicanoides to 

 the uplands of Guatemala, Honduras, and Central Nicaragua. No member of the 

 genus is found in Costa Eica, nor do we meet with it again till the Andes of 

 Peru, Bolivia, and Chili are reached. Colaptes is unrepresented in the Valley of the 

 Amazons, nor are any members of it found in Guiana or Venezuela. Two species 

 occur in Eastern and Southern Brazil, and one of them as far south as Patagonia. All 

 these southern birds differ rather materially from those of the north. 



In Colaptes the bill is curved, and has no distinct ridge running parallel to the 

 culmen; the wing is pointed; the tarsus is longer than the outer toe (reversed); the 

 shafts of the wing-primaries are brightly coloured, so also are the inner webs of the 

 same feathers beneath, and the tail-feathers beneath for at least two-thirds of their 

 length from the base. 



1. Colaptes mexicanus. 



Culaptes mexicanus, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 440 (1827)'; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, p. 307''; 1858, 



p. 305 = ; 1859, p. 367*; Duges, La Nat. i. p. 139'; Baird, Brew., and Ridgw. N. Am. 



Birds, ii. p. 578 '; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 240 ^• Salv. Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 400'; 



Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. is. p. 160 ' ; Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. pp. 17 ", 



568". 

 Picus cafer, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 431 '^ *. 

 Colaptes cafer, Coues, Check-list N. Am. Birds, p. 218"; Herrera, La Nat. (2) i. pp. 179", 



322''; Stone, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1890, p. 214'"; Allen, BuU. Am. Mus. N. H. iv. p. 21 et seq." 

 Picus rubricafus, Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 516 ". 

 Colaptes rubricatus, Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 109". 



Supra vinaceo-fuscTis, pileo immaculato paalo rufescentiore, dorso et tectricibus alarmn plnmis omnibus nigro 

 bifasoiatis, dorso imo albo, tectricibus snpracaudalibus longioribus albis nigro transfasciatis ; capite, cervicis 

 lateribus et gutture griseis, stria malari coccinea, fascia magna pectorali lunata nigra, abdomine albicante, 

 plumis omnibus macula magna discali nigra, bypochondriis imis et tectricibus subalaribus nigro fasciatis ; 

 alis nigricantibus, extrorsum vinaceo-fusco maculatis, rhachidibus rubidis : subtus plerumque rubidis, sub- 

 alaribus rosaceis nigro maculatis ; cauda bitriente basali rubida, apice nigra ; rectrice subexterna in pogonio 

 externo nigro et rosaceo variegato ; rostro et pedibus plumbeis. Long, tota circa 10-5, alse 6-2 candse 

 rectr. med. 4-0, rectr. subexterna 3-6, rectr. lat. 1-4, rostri a rictu 1-65, tarsi 1-15, dig. med. absque 

 nngue 0-9, dig. ext. 0-7. (Descr. maris ex Mexico Vail. Mus. nostr.) 

 5 mari similis, stria malari coccinea nulla, sed cinnamomeo interdum irregnlariter vix notata. 



Eab. Western North America, from the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to the 

 Pacific, north to British Columbia «. — Mexico {T. Mann % Hermosillo in Sonora 



* "We have no doubt Gmelin's name applies to C. mexicanus, and is much older than it ; but we are not 

 prepared to caU an American bird by the specific name of cafer— one suggested in complete ignorance of the 

 true origin of the species. 



