236 CANADIAN WOODPECKER. 



Male, 101, i7|. 



From the northern parts of New York to the Fur Countries. Common. 

 Migratory in winter to New York. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, straight, strong, angular, compressed 

 toward the tip, which is truncate and cuneate. Upper mandible with the 

 dorsal line straight, the ridge very narrow, the sides sloping and flat, the 

 lateral angle or ridge nearer the edge, which is sharp, direct, and over- 

 lapping. Lower mandible with the angle short and rather wide, the dorsal 

 line straight, the ridge narrow, the sides flat and grooved for some way 

 beyond the angle, convex toward the edges, which are sharp and inflected, 

 the tip narrow. Nostrils oblong, basal, concealed by the feathers, and 

 placed near the margin. 



Head large, ovate; neck rather short; body full. Feet verjr short; tarsus 

 short, compressed, feathered anteriorly more than one-third down, scutellate 

 in the rest of its extent, and with a series of large scales behind; toes four, 

 first small, but stout; fourth considerably longer than the third; second and 

 third united at the base; all scutellate above. Claws large, much curved, 

 compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



Plumage very soft, full, and blended. A large tuft of recurved stiffish 

 feathers on each side of the base of the upper mandible, concealing the 

 nostrils; the feathers in the angle of the lower mandible also stiffish, and 

 directed forwards. Wings rather long; the first quill very small, being only 

 an inch and a twelfth long, the second two inches longer, and seven-twelfths 

 shorter than the third, which is two-twelfths shorter than the fourth, this 

 being the longest, but exceeding the fifth only by one-twelfth; secondaries 

 broad and rounded. Tail of moderate length, cuneate, of twelve feathers, of 

 which the lateral, which are rounded and unworn, are only one inch and 

 two-twelfths long, the next, also unworn, are eleven-twelfths of an inch 

 shorter than the middle, which are pointed, sometimes without having the 

 very strong shafts worn, but also sometimes having them broken off at the 

 end; all the rest are more or less pointed. 



Bill bluish-grey, toward the end black; iris brown; feet bluish-grey. The 

 tufts of bristly feathers over the nostrils, and the angle of the low jaw, are 

 dull yellow; the upper part of the head and the hind neck are glossy black; 

 over each eye is a band of white, continuous with a transverse band of 

 scarlet on the occiput, usually interrupted in the middle; a black band from 

 near the bill to the eye, continued behind it over the auriculars, and joining 

 the black of the hind neck; beneath this black band is one of white, pro- 

 ceeding from the angle of the mouth and curving backwards below the 

 middle of the neck, so as to meet its fellow behind; this band is succeeded 



