155. 
PICIDA:: WOODPECKERS. 487 
WoopPrEcKER (9). BLACK-BREASTED WOODPECKER (9). RED-THROATED WOODPECKER 
(3). Wiiramson’s Wooppecker (f). Adult g°: Glossy black, including all the tail- 
feathers. Belly gamboge yellow. A narrow scarlet patch on the throat. Upper tail-coverts, 
a broad oblique bar on the wing-coverts, a post-ocular stripe, a stripe from nostrils below eye 
and ear, and small, in part paired, spots on the quills, white. Lining of wings, sides of body, 
flanks and crissum varied with white, leaving the black in bars and cordate spots. Bill slate- 
color; feet greenish-gray ; iris reddish-brown. Length 9.00-9.50; extent 16.00-17.00; wing 
5.00-5.50; tail 3.75; bill 0.90; whole foot 1.67. Adult 9: Altogether different ; only upper 
tail-coverts white and belly yellow as in $ ; only continuously black in a shield-shaped area 
on breast of varying extent. Otherwise, entire body, including wing-coverts, inner secondaries 
and most tail-feathers, closely and regularly barred crosswise with black and white, or brownish- 
white (most brownish on body, quite white on 
wings and tail). Whole head uniform hair- 
brown, invaded more or less with the varie- 
gation of the body, sometimes with traces of 
the post-ocular stripe of the @, and often 
touched with red on the throat. Quills more 
heavily white-spotted than in ¢, the spots 
paired on all the feathers, changing to bars 
on the inner ones. Two or three interme- 
diate tail-feathers black, but middle and one 
or two outer pairs barred. Size of the @. 
The extraordinary sexual differences long 
kept thyroides and ‘‘ williamsont” apart in 
the books as perfectly distinct species; espe- 
cially as they begin with the first featherings, Fig. 338. —Red-throated Woodpecker (g), nat. size. 
fledglings in the nest showing the opposite (Ad nat. del. E. C.) 
patterns perfectly. Young : Like adult; no red in the white throat-patch ; belly merely 
yellowish; tail varied with white. Young 9: Like adult, but whole head, neck, and breast 
banded with dusky and gray, conformable with the general variegation of the body. The best 
9 Q are those with the cleanest brown head and most black breast. Though the general 
effect of this beautiful woodpecker is so peculiar, in each sex, the coloration is referable to 
the pattern of S. varius. In both, yellow belly, red throat (¢), white upper tail-coverts, 
spotted quills, varied flanks and crissum, stripes on head, black breast (only circumscribed in 
9), white oblique wing-bar (only developed in ¢), variegation of inner web of middle tail- 
feather (Q and young ¢); general variegation of back of varius repeated in 9, while gray 
head of young varius is net by brown head of 9 thyroides. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. 8., 
chiefly in the pine-belt, of which it is one of the characteristic species, like Clarke’s crow, 
Steller’s jay, and other birds; abundant in favorable localities. It is strictly a Sphyropicus, 
with little extensible, brushy and obtuse tongue, and feeds on juices of trees, as well as insects 
and berries. Eggs not yet taken: doubtless indistinguishable from those of S. varius. 
CENTU'RUS. (Gr. xévrpov, kentron, a prickle; ovpa, oura, tail; but the species not sharper- 
tailed than other woodpeckers.) ZEBRA WOODPECKERS. Bill about as long as head, com- 
pressed, little bevelled or truncate at end, with decidedly curved culmen; lateral ridges near 
culmen, subsiding before reaching end of bill; nasal tufts moderate, partly concealing nostrils. 
Outer hind toe shorter than outer anterior one. Wings and tail ordinary. Sexes alike, except 
less or no red on head of Q. ‘‘ Ladder-backed;” back and wings, except larger quills, closely 
banded with black and white; primaries with large white blotches near the base, and usually a 
few smaller spots; below, immaculate, except sagittate black marks on the flanks and erissuin ; 
the belly tinged with red or yellow ; 9-10 long; wing about 5.00; tail about 3.50. 
