BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 147 



than two-fifths as long as ninth. Tail nearly two-thirds as long as 

 wing, the rectrices broad but the middle ones tapering terminally 

 into long cuneate points. Tarsus about as long as outer hind 

 toe with claw, the latter decidedly shorter than the anterior 

 one. 



Coloration. — General color plain sooty black, relieved by a broad 

 white stripe down side of neck and along each edge of interscapular 

 area; under parts of body (posterior to chest) pale brownish, duU 

 huffy, or dull whitish barred or spotted with black or dusky; under 

 wing-coverts and proximal portion of inner webs of remiges immacu- 

 late pale yellow or yellowish white; adult males with entire pileum, in- 

 cluding conspicuous occipital crest, and a broad malar patch bright 

 red, adult females with only the crest red. Plumage compact and 

 firm, that of neck very short, that on sides of head (especially auricu- 

 lar region) very closely appressed. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, Argen- 

 tina, Bolivia, and Peru. (About six species and subspecies.) 



KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OF CEOPHLCBUS LINEATTJS. 



a. Bill blackish or dusky. 



b. Larger (wing averaging more than 185 mm.); under parts white or nearly so, 



regularly barred with black. (Central Colombia to the Guianas, Trinidad, 



southern Brazil, BoUvia, etc.). . . . Ceophloeus lineatus lineatus (extralimital).ffl 



55. Smaller (wing averaging much less than 185 mm.); under parts more brownish, 



sometimes decidedly pale brownish or brownish buffy, irregularly barred or 



spotted with dusky. (Santa Marta district of Colombia to Costa Rica.) 



Ceophloeus lineatus mesorhyuchus (p. 148). 

 aa. Bin pale horn color or dull yellowish white. 

 5. Larger (wing averaging more than 175 mm., culmen averaging more than 35 

 mm.); suborbital and aubauricular white stripe distinct, continuous; throat 

 more extensively white. (Northern Costa Rica to eastern Mexico.) 



Ceophloeus lineatus simllis (p. 150). 



o [Piais] lineatus Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, i, 1766, 174 (based on Pic noir hup& 

 de Cayenne Brisson, Orn., iv, 31, pi. 1, fig. 2). — Picus lineatus Boddaert, Tabl. PL 

 Enl., 1783, 45 (ex PI. Enl., pi. 717). — Dryocopus lineatus Hartlaub, Index Azara's 

 Apunt., 1847, 16; Sclater, Cat. Am. Birds, 1862, 332. — Dryoscopus lineatus Allen, 

 Bull. Am. Mus. N. H., ii, 1889, 101 (Bolivia). — [Dryotonms] lineatus Swainson, Classif. 

 Birds, ii, 1837, 308. — C[ampephilus] lineatus Reichenbach, Handb. Scansores, Picinae, 

 1854, 391, pi. 647, figs. 4321, 4322. — Megapicos lineatus Des Murs, in Castelnau's 

 Voy. Am. Sud., Ois., 1855, 17. — Dryopieus lineatus Malherbe, 'Mon. Picid., i, 1861, 

 39, iii, 1862, pi. 12, figs. 4, 5, 6, 7. — C[eophloeus] lineatus Oabanis, Journ. ftir Orn., 

 1862, 176. — Ceophlmus lineatus Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xviii, 1890, 508, part; 

 Hellmayr, Abh. K. B. Akad. Wiss., ii kl., xxii Bd., iii Abth., 1906, 603 (crit.). 



Besides the characters mentioned above, the throat is usually much less streaked 

 with dusky, the black areas are less sooty, and the under side of the wing less pro- 

 nouncedly yellow. 



The species undoubtedly requires further subdivision, but the series of South 

 American specimens at present available is much too small to justify an attempt to 

 define more than one form from South America. 



