262 RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 



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

 tarsus very short, feathered anteriorly one-third down, in the rest of its 

 extent covered with a few large scutella; sharp-edged and having internally 

 small scutella behind; toes four; first toe small; fourth slightly longer than 

 third; second and third united at the base; claws large, much curved, com- 

 pressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



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

 on each side of the base of the upper mandible, concealing the nostrils; the 

 feathers at the angle of the lower mandible also stiffish. Wings rather long; 

 the first quill very small, being only ten-twelfths long, the second nine- 

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

 the latter being the longest, and exceeding the fifth by a twelfth and a half; 

 secondaries rounded, and somewhat emarginate. Tail of moderate length, 

 cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the lateral is only eleven-twelfths long, 

 and one inch five and a half twelfths shorter than the next, which is eleven- 

 twelfths shorter than the middle, and slightly worn, the rest having the tip 

 slit, the shaft terminating abruptly. 



Bill bluish-grey, dusky toward the end. Feet bluish-grey, claws brown. 

 The upper part of the head, the neck all round, and a portion of the breast 

 deep carmine; the tufts over the nostrils yellow, and from them a white 

 band to beneath the eye; the feathers of the eyelids black; the middle of the 

 breast and the abdomen yellow; the feathers of the sides of the body and 

 rump, with the lower tail-coverts, barred, or marked with a pointed dusky 

 spot, their edges yellowish-white. The upper parts are black, the middle of 

 the back spotted with yellowish-white, the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white on the inner webs and toward the tip on both. There is a large patch 

 of white on the wing, formed by some of the smaller coverts, the first row 

 of small coverts and the terminal portions of the outer webs of the secondary 

 coverts. The qitills are black, the three longest with eight spots on the 

 outer and five on the inner web, the second with four on the inner web and 

 two on the outer, the first with two on the inner web; the secondaries more 

 or less tipped with white, but several of them without spots on the outer 

 web. The tail-feathers are black, the two middle with three or four white 

 spots on the inner web, or white, with several black bands. Sometimes the 

 lateral feathers are spotted on the outer edge, and several have a terminal 

 white edging. 



Length to end of tail 9 inches; bill along the ridge -f|, along the edge of 

 lower mandible ly^; wing from flexure 5ff ; tail 3y§; tarsus ||; first toe -ff, 

 its claw f |; second toe T 7 ^, its claw fj; third toe -j^, its claw -ff ; fourth 

 toe -f|, its claw ff . 



Adult Female. 



