486 



8Y8TEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PICABI^ —PICIFOBMES. 



446. 



447. 



S. va'rius. (Lat. varius, variegated. Fig. 336.) Yellow-bellied Woodpeckek. $: 

 Crown crimson, bordered all around with black ; chin, throat, and breast black, enclosing a large 

 crimson patch on the former (in the $ ; in the ? this patch white) ; sides of head with a white 

 line starting from the nasal feathers and dividing the black of the throat from a trans-ocular 

 black stripe, this separated from the black of the crown by a white post-ocular stiipe ; all these 

 stripes frequently yellowish. Under parts dingy yellow, brownish and with sagittate dusky 

 marks on the sides. Back variegated with black and yellowish. Wings black with a large 

 oblique white bar on the coverts ; the quills with numerous paired white spots on the edges 

 of both webs. Tail black, most of the feathers white-edged, the inner webs of the middle pair, 



and the upper coverts, mostly white. Bill 

 brownish; feet greenish-plumbeous; iris 

 brown. Young birds lack the definite 

 black areas of the head and breast, and the 

 crimson throat-patch, these parts being 

 mottled gray ; but in any plumage the bird 

 is recognized by its yellowness, different 

 from what is seen in any other Eastern 

 species, and the broad white wing-bai-, to 

 say nofliing of the generic characters. 

 Length 8.25-8.75 ; extent 15.00-16.00 ; 

 wing 4.80-5.20; tail 3.50. Eastern N. 

 Am., abundant in most U. S. localities, 

 resident in the South, migratory northerly ; 

 N. to 01° at least ; W. to Dakota ; S. into 

 Central Am. and W. I. The hyoid bones 

 are the shortest of those of any N. Am. 



448. 



Fig. 

 nat. del. 



449. 



336. — Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, nat, size. (Ad 

 B. C.) 



species ; the tongue is protrusible only about i inch beyond bill. Eggs 4-6, about 0.95 X 0.70 

 S. V. nucha/Us. (Lat. nuchalis, pertaining to nucha, the nape; not dassic.) Nuchal Wood- 

 peckek. Like the last ; with an additional band of scarlet on thWfape (where the white is 

 seldom even tinged with red in 8. varius) ; red throat-patch invading the surrounding black, and 

 9' with this patch at least in part red ; all the yellowish variegation very pale, almost white on 

 the belly (where varius is yellowest) ; biU slaty-black (not brownish). Size of varius. Eocky 

 Mt. region, U. S., abundant. In 8. varius 

 the red rarely spreads on the nape, and the 

 9 seldom has any on the throat. In 8. 

 nuchalis this extensitm of red is a step 

 which culminates in 8. ruber. 

 S. V. ru'ber. (Lat. ruber, red.) Red- 



BREASTED WOODPECKBK. LilfC the last, 



but whole head, neck, and breast carmine- 

 red, in both sexes, in which the markings 

 of varius are more or less completely dis- 

 solved, though usually traceable ; gray in 

 the young. Size of the last. Pacific coast 

 region, U. S. A remarkable extreme, long 

 supposed to be perfectly distinct; now 

 known to intergrade in every degree vrith 

 nuchalis. 



S. thyroi'des. (G-r. 6vpeo€c8ris, thwreoeides, shield-lik 

 resemblance ; alluding to the black plastron of the 9 . 



Fig. 337. — Brown-headed 

 (Ad nat. del. E. 0.) 



Woodpecker ($), nat. size. 



; 6vpe6s, thureos, a shield ; elSos, 

 Figs. 337, 338.) Brown-headep 



