HAIRY WOODPECKER. 247 



Breeds from Texas to New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Valley of the 

 Mississippi. Common. Resident. 



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 at the base, convex toward the 

 end, the edges inflected, the tip narrow. Nostrils oblong, basal, concealed 

 by the feathers, and placed near the margin. 



Head large, ovate; neck rather short; bod}^ full. Feet very short; tarsus 

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

 in the rest of its extent, as well as behind, on the inner side; toes four; first 

 small, but stout; fourth longest and directed backwards, second and third 

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

 pressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



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

 elongated, and directed forward. Wings rather long; the first quill very 

 small, being only eleven-twelfths long, the second one inch and eleven- 

 twelfths longer, and five and a half twelfths shorter than the third, which is 

 one-twelfth shorter than the fourth, this being the longest, but scarcely 

 exceeding the fifth; 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 long, the next, also unworn, are nine-twelfths 

 of an inch shorter than the middle, which are pointed, having the shafts 

 very strong and bristle-pointed; all the rest more or less pointed. 



Bill bluish-grey, toward the end black. Iris brown. Feet bluish-grey. 

 The upper parts are black, spotted with white, the lower brownish-white. 

 The tufts of bristly feathers over the nostrils, and in the angle of the lower 

 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 divided into two patches by the 

 continuation of the black of the head; a black band from 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, proceeding 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 by another of black, proceed- 

 ing from the base of the lower mandible, and continuous with the black of 



