268 BANDED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



Bill bluish-black, the lower mandible greyish-blue, as are the feet, the 

 scutella and claws black. Iris bluish-black. The general colour of the 

 upper parts is deep glossy black, the head with blue reflections, the back 

 with green. Crown of the head yellow, tinged with orange. Quills black- 

 ish-brown, the outer primaries with seven rows of white spots. Two middle 

 tail-feathers black, two next of the same colour, but with three cream- 

 coloured spots on the edge of the outer web towards the end; two next 

 black at the base, cream-coloured towards the end, black at the tip; two 

 next cream-coloured, with little black at the base, and a mere touch of black 

 on the tip; two next of the same colour, with very little black at the base; 

 the two outermost, which are very short, rounded, and generally concealed, 

 barred with black and cream-colour. A white band from the base of the 

 mandible passes under the eye, and there is a very slender line of the same 

 behind it. Throat, fore neck, and anterior part of the breast, white; the rest 

 of the under parts also white, but barred with black. 



Length 10^ inches, extent of wings 16; bill along the ridge 1 T 2 2, along the 

 edge y^; tarsus T |, middle toe and claw T |-, of hind toe and claw 1^. 



Adult Female. 



The female wants the yellow patch on the crown of the head, and has the 

 line of white behind the eye rather more conspicuous, but in other respects 

 resembles the male. 



BANDED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



+ Picus hirsutus, Vieill. 



PLATE CCLXIX.— Male and Female. 



The difference between this bird and that described under the name of 

 Picus tridactylus was unknown to me until clearly pointed out by the 

 minute and accurate description of Mr. Swainson in the Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana. Indeed I had looked upon it as the young of the species just 

 mentioned. Not having met with it myself, I can only refer you to the 

 very short notice of Dr. Richardson, who says: "This bird exists in all the 

 forests of spruce-fir lying between Lake Superior and the Arctic Sea, and it 

 is the most common Woodpecker north of the Great Slave Lake. It much 



