| 
446. 
447. 
448, 
449. 
486 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARILH —PICIFORMES. 
8. varius. (Lat. varius, variegated. Fig. 336.) YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. @: 
Crown crimson, bordered all around with black ; chin, throat, and breast black, enclosing a large 
crimson patch on the former (in the ¢; in the 9 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 stripe ; 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 
=4 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-bar, to 
say nothing 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 61° at least; W. to Dakota; S. into 
Fie, 936, —Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, nat, size. (Ad Central Am. and W. I. The hyoid bones 
nat. del. E. C.) are the shortest of those of any N. Am. 
species ; the tongue is protrusible only about 4 inch beyond bill. Eggs 4-6, about 0.95 x 0.70. 
8. v. nucha‘lis. (Lat. nuchalis, pertaining to nucha, the nape; not classic.) Nucuan Woop- 
PECKER. Like the last; with an additional band of scarlet on the nape (where the white is 
seldom even tinged with redin S. varius) ; red throat-patch invading the surrounding black, and 
? with this patch at least in part red ; all the yellowish variegation very pale, almost white on 
the belly (where varius is yellowest) ; bill slaty-black (not brownish). Size of varius. Rocky 
Mt. region, U.S., abundant. In S. varius 
the red rarely spreads on the nape, and the 
Q seldom has any on the throat. In S. 
nuchalis this extension of red is a step 
which culminates in S. ruber. 
S. v. ruw/ber. (Lat. ruber, red.) ReEp- 
BREASTED WooppPECcKEER. Like 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 thelast. Pacific coast 
region, U.S. A remarkable extreme, long 
supposed to be perfectly distinct; now 
known to intergrade in every degree with Fic. 337.— Brown-headed Woodpecker (¢), nat. size. 
nuchalis. (Ad nat, del. E, C.) 
S. thyroi‘des. (Gr. 6upeoedys, thureoeides, shield-like ; Oupeds, thwreos, a shield; eidos, 
resemblance ; alluding to the black plastron of the 9. Figs. 337, 338.) BrowN-HEADED 
