' PICIDZ:: WOODPECKERS. 491 
A narrow distinct collar around back of neck, and breast, hoary bluish-gray, gradually brighten- 
ing behind on the under parts to intense rose-red or lake, delicately pencilled in hair lines with 
the hoary-gray. No white on wings or 
tail, their under surfaces simply. black. 
Bill blackish; feet greenish-plumbeous. 
Tris brown. Length 10.00-11.00; extent 
20.00-22.00; wing 6.50-7.00; tail 4.50; 
bill 1.20. Young: Little lustre at first, 
but this soon appears, before any red. 
‘Little or no trace of the hoary collar or 
crimson mask; face sooty-black; throat 
and breast mixed fuscous and gray, chang- 
ing on the belly to sooty-black, tinged or 
slashed here and there with red. The 
hoary and lake-red are established with 
the feathers that are of the bristly charac- 
ter above described. A remarkable bird,. 
inhabiting wooded mountainous parts of 
the West, especially the pine-belt, Rocky 
Mts. to the Pacific, U. 8. and British Col- 
umbia. It is found with Clarke’s crow 
and Steller’s jay ; wild and wary, like our 
Hylotomus ; keeps high up in the trees, Nichols sc.) 
and in flying looks more like a crow than a woodpecker. Its aerial excursions are very con- 
spicuous. Nest and eggs as usual; size of eggs 1.12 X 0.95. 
158. COLAP'TES. (Gr. xodamrns, kolaptes, a chisel, hammer.) GILDED WOODPECKERS. FLICK- 
ERS. Bill about as long as head, slender and weak for this fainily, without any lateral ridges or 
bevelling, pointed without truncation, culmen and commissure curved, gonys nearly straight, 
only about half as long as culmen, nostrils nut concealed by the slight nasal tufts; culmen and 
gonys, however, both ridged. 
Outer posterior toe shorter 
than the outer anterior ; in- 
ner posterior very short. 
Wings long, pointed by 3d 
to 6th quills; 2d shorter 
than 7th; 1st about 2 the 
2d. Taillengthened. Sexes 
generally alike, but distin- 
guishable by positive marks 
about head. Plumage highly 
variegated and very showy. 
Under parts with numerous 
ee 7H circular black spots on a 
thy ee ae 
wi wy snowy-white. Back, wing- 
Fria. 344. — Flicker, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) coverts and innermost quills 
SS San 
brown with an olive or lilac shade, and thickly barred with black; quills and tail black, ex- 
cepting as below stated; red or black cheek patches in g, wanting in 9. About a foot 
long ; wing about 6.00; tail 4.50. A beautiful genus, of 6 American species, 3 of N. Am. 
