CANADIAN WOODPECKER. 237 



by another of black, proceeding from the base of the lower mandible, and 

 continuous with the black of the shoulders. All the upper parts may be 

 described as black, tinged with brown behind; the feathers along the middle 

 of the back tipped with white; the wing-coverts, the anterior excepted, and 

 the quills spotted with the same, there being on the four longest primaries 

 seven spots on the outer, and five on the inner web, on most of the seconda- 

 ries five on each web, but on the outer quill only one patch on each web, 

 and on the second three spots on the outer, and four on the inner web. The 

 four middle tail-feathers are glossy black, the rest black towards the base, 

 that colour gradually diminishing so that the outermost is almost entirely 

 white. The lower parts are white, slightly tinged with reddish on the fore 

 neck and breast. 



Length to end of tail 10 J inches, to end of wings 8; to end of claws 9g; 

 extent of wings 17f: bill along the ridge ly 5 ^; along the edge of lower man- 

 dible If; wing from flexure 5 T V; tail 3^', tarsus T °|; hind toe yf , its claw f^; 

 second toe -ff, its claw ^: third toe -ff, its claw f|; fourth toe -j^, its 

 claw ff . 



The female, which is somewhat smaller than the male, differs only in 

 being more tinged with brown, especially on the quills, and in wanting the 

 red patches on the occiput. 



In form and colour, this species differs in no appreciable degree from 

 Picus villosus, which it also resembles in the texture of its plumage, and in 

 the relative proportion of the quills and tail-feathers. But it is much larger, 

 its bill is proportionally stouter, and its fourth toe a little more elongated. 

 The differences, however, are extremely slight. 



The roof of the mouth is anteriorly nearly flat, with a prominent median 

 line; the posterior aperture of the nares linear, 9\ twelfths long, and 

 margined with papillse. The tongue is 1^ inches long, somewhat cylindrical 

 for 11 twelfths, in the rest of its extent slender, tapering, with a horny 

 sheath, having eight reversed bristles on each margin. The horns of the 

 hyoid bone pass along the median line of the head until they are over the 

 middle of the eyes, when they turn to the right side, and are curved along a 

 deep groove on the anterior edge of the orbit, passing under the eye to 

 opposite its middle. The oesophagus is 3 inches 2 twelfths long, 3\ twelfths 

 in width, and of nearly uniform diameter. The stomach is rather small, 

 elliptical, 9 twelfths long, 8 twelfths broad; its lateral muscles moderately 

 developed. The contents are larvae and coleopterous insects. The epithe- 

 lium is dense but thin, and longitudinally rugous. The intestine is 9 inches 

 long, 2\ twelfths in width at its anterior part. There are no cceca. 



The trachea is 2\ inches long, slender, about 2^ twelfths in breadth, a 

 little flattened, and of about 60 rings. The bronchi are of moderate length, 



