Red-naped Sapsucker 229 
In this genus the’tongue is hardly extensile, and the tip is obtuse 
and brushy ; this is correlated with the habit of feeding on the inner 
bark and sap of trees. 
A genus confined to America, with three species in the United States. 
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) of eastern, North 
America was included in the Colorado list by Ridgway (73, p. 185) 
and Cooke (97, p. 83), on the authority of Aiken presumably. Mr. 
Aiken informs me he never took this bird in Colorado and that he does 
not believe that it comes so far east, and that the record rests on a 
misapprehension ; it is, however, included in the key, as follows :— 
A. Back black, spotted with white and pale yellowish. 
a. Nape yellowish; throat red, bounded laterally by black. 
; S. varius. 
b. Nape crimson like the crown, separated from it by a narrow 
black band as a rule; red throat hardly showing black at 
sides. S. v. nuchalis, p. 229. 
B. Back glossy-black, unmarked. S. thyroideus, ¢ p. 231. 
C. Back cross-banded with black and white. S. thyroideus, 2 p. 231. 
Red-naped Sapsucker. Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 402a—Colorado Records—Allen 72, pp. 158, 
180; Henshaw 75, p. 392; Scott 79, p. 95; Tresz 81, p. 186; Drew 
81,p. 141; 85,p.17; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 196; Bendire 88, p. 227 ; 
92, p. 88 ; Morrison 86, p. 153; 88,p.108; 89, p.68; Kellogg 90, p. 87 ; 
Goss 91, p. 331 ; Lowe 94, p. 268 ; McGregor 97, p. 38 ; Cooke 97, pp. 83, 
207; Keyser 02, p. 211; Henderson 03, p. 235; 09, p. 231; Gilman 
07, p. 154; Warren 08, p. 21; 09, p. 15; Rockwell 08, p. 164; Hersey 
& Rockwell, 09, p. 118. 
Description.—Male—Crown and a transverse nuchal band crimson, 
separated by a narrow occipital band of black; upper-parts black, 
largely variegated with white and with a faint wash of yellowish in 
the centre; wings with the quills spotted with white, and a patch of 
white on the coverts; tail also with white; below, chin and throat- 
patch crimson, followed by a crescent-shaped patch of black; w line 
from the bill below the eye and rest of the under-parts pale yellow 
with dusky sagittate markings on the sides; iris brown, bill slaty- 
brown, feet dusky. Length 7-5; wing 4:9; tail 3-0; culmen -8; 
tarsus -8. 
The female is like the male, but has the chin white, though the 
throat remains crimson. A young male killed July 31st, has the crown 
black with a very faint wash of crimson, and a red throat and black 
chest with a mottling of dusky and yellowish. 
Distribution.—Frcom eastern British Columbia and Alberta, south 
through Colorado to north-western Mexico, west to the Cascades, 
