BANDED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 269 



resembles the P. villosus (by which I presume is meant P. canadensis, as 

 already explained) in its habits, except that it seeks its food principally on 

 decaying trees of the pine tribe, in which it frequently makes holes large 

 enough to bury itself. It does not migrate." 



I have represented the male and the female, from specimens lent to me by 

 the Council of the Zoological Society of London. 



Picus hirsutds, Vieill. Ois. de l'Araer., vol. ii. p. 124. 



Picus (Apternus) tridactylus, Common Three-toed Woodpecker, Swains, and Rich. 



F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 311. 

 Common Three-toed Woodpecker, Picus hirsulus, Aud. Orn. Bios;., vol. v. p. 184. 



Male, 9; wing, 4^-. 



From Lake Superior to the Arctic Sea. Abundant. Resident. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, straight, strong, angular, depressed at 

 the base, compressed toward the tip, which is very slightly truncate and 

 cuneate. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge very 

 narrow, the sides sloping and flat, the lateral angle much nearer the edge, 

 which is sharp, direct, and overlapping. Lower mandible with the angle 

 short and rather wide, the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow, the sides 

 convex, the edges inflected, the tip pointed. Nostrils oblong, basal, con- 

 cealed by the feathers, and placed near the margin. 



Head large, ovate; neck rather short; body 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 three, the 

 first wanting; the fourth or outer reversed toe considerably longer than the 

 third, which is united to the inner at the base; all scutellate above. Claws 

 large, much curved, compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 



Plumage very soft, full, 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 and directed forwards. 

 Wings rather long; the first quill very small, being only eleven-twelfths 

 long, the second five-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 one inch and one-twelfth 

 shorter than the middle. 



Bill bluish-grey, dusky toward the end. Feet bluish-grey, the scutella 

 and claws black. The general colour of the upper parts is deep glossy black, 



