274 BITLLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



ff. Head and chest with a reddish BufEusion.o 



Sphyiapicus ruber (and subspecies), young (pp. 282). 

 56. Sides of throat and lower throat black; sides of chest black, 

 c. Chest, etc., glossy greenish blue-black; throat-stripe red; abdominal area 

 bright yellow. (Western North America, south to northern Mexico in 



winter.) Sphyrapious thyroideus, adult male (p. 286). 



cc. Chest, etc., djill black; throat-stripe whitish; abdominal area pale yeUow or 



yellowish white Sphyiapicus thyioideus, yoimg male (p. 286). 



aa. Middle and greater wing-coverta black barred with pale grayish brown or dull 

 brownish white . . Sphyrapicus thyioideus, adult, and young, female (pp. 286, 287). 



SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS VARIUS (Linnaeus). 



SAPSrCKEB. 



Adult male. — Forehead and crown bright poppy red or crimson, 

 bordered posteriorly by an occipital crescent of glossy blue-black, 

 extending laterally to above middle of eye; nape (at least laterally) 

 white or brownish white, rarely tinged with red; back and scapulars 

 black faintly glossed with greenish blue, broken by heavy spotting 

 of white or brownish white, the white prevailing on sides of back, the 

 black predominating on median portion; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 mostly black laterally, mostly white (usually immaculate) medially; 

 tail black, the inner web of middle pair of rectrices white with several 

 larger or smaller obhque spots or bars of black, the lateral rectrices 

 margined terminally with white (except in abraded plumage); 

 wings black, the exposed portion of middle coverts and outer web of 

 greater coverts (except inner or proximal ones) white, forming a 

 conspicuous longitudinal patch, the outer webs of primaries and 

 distal portion of secondaries with large elongated spots of white, the 

 inner secondaries (tertials) with much white on distal portion; a 

 broad and sharply defined band of white originating at nasal tufts 

 and extending between orbital and malar regions to sides of neck; 

 a narrower postocular stripe of white originating above posterior 

 portion of eye and extending thence to nape; a malar stripe of 

 black, becoming narrower posteriorly, where confluent with a large 

 jugular patch of uniform glossy blue-black, having a strongly con- 

 vex or rounded posterior outhne; chin and throat bright poppy red, 

 the feathers white beneath surface; median under parts and portions 

 adjacent to posterior and lateral edges of the black jugular area, 

 pale yellow (primrose to nearly sulphur yellow); sides and flanks 

 dull white or brownish white (usually more brownish anteriorly), 

 broken by V-shaped markings of blackish; under tail-coverts white, 

 sometimes with a few shaft-streaks or other markings of blackish; 

 bill brownish black or blackish brown; iris brown; legs and feet 

 grayish oUve-green or greenish gray (in hfe). 



o This character possibly not constant, in which case the young of S. ruber and S. 

 nuchalis would not always be distinguishable. 



