426 PICID^. 



This Woodpecker is a well-marked one, having no near allies. The middle of the 

 abdomen is nearly white, without any tint of yellow or red, as in the other members of 

 this section of the genus. It has black round the eyes as in M. elegans, but there is 

 no yellow or orange on any portion of the head. The bill, too, is much more slender 

 than that of M. elegans. 



We have no account as yet of its habits. 



Species dubice. 



Melaneepes xantholaktnx, Reich. Scans. Picinse, p. 384, t. dcxliii. figg. 4293-4; 

 Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 155. 

 A species allied to M. formidvorus, said to be from Mexico, but only known from 

 Reichenbach's figures. These differ from the above-mentioned species in showing a 

 white face, the side of the neck being also white without any black patch behind the 

 eye, the malar region alone being black. The underparts are striated with black, but 

 there is no black band on the breast. 



PiCUS AUROCAPILLUS, Vig. P. Z. S. 1832, p. 4. 



A bird described by Vigors from a specimen in Cuming's collection, but without 

 locality, but presumably from ChUi, though stated by Lesson (Compl. Buff, ix. p. 315) 

 to be from Mexico. 



The species has not since been recognized, nor is the name mentioned by Mr. Hargitt. 

 Vigors's description is as follows : — 



" PicTJS ATTROCAPILLUS. Pic. supra ater, albo fasciatus maculatusque ; striga lata supra oculos ad humeros 

 extendente, alteraque suboculari interrupta, gulaqiie albis ; pectore abdomineque sordide albescentibus, 

 strigis parcis fuscis notatis ; capite atro, fronte aureo strigatim notato, vertice aureo. 



" Longitude 6^ unc." 



b'. Digitus pedis medius quam digitus externus (reversus) brevior. 

 c". Cauda quam remex secundus haud brevior. 



SPHYROPICUS. 



Sphyrapicus, Baird, Birds N. Am. p. 101 (1858). 



Sphyropicm, Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, ii. p. 535 ; Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. 

 p. 187. 



The structure of the tongue in the members of this genus departs from the usual 

 arrangement of that organ in the Woodpeckers, inasmuch as it is scarcely extensible. 

 Dr. Coues, who carefully examined the tongues of several species of Sphyropicm, states 

 that the hyoid bones are much shorter than in other Woodpeckers, and that the 

 apo-hyal and cerato-hyal portions of the hyoid do not reach back much beyond the 

 tympano-maxillary articulation, instead of, as in Picus, round over the occiput to the 



