THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 279 



Adult Female. 



The female differs from the male only in being smaller, and in having the 

 tints of the plumage somewhat less vivid. 



Length S^- inches. 



Young Birds. 



The young, when fully fledged, have the bill and iris dark brown, the feet 

 bluish. The head and neck are dark brownish-grey, mottled with small 

 streaks of dark brown; the back and wing-coverts of the same colour, spotted 

 with darker; the primaries brownish-black, margined with whitish, the 

 secondaries yellowish-white, barred with black; the tail brownish-black, 

 tipped with white; the rump and under parts greyish-white. 



In a male preserved in spirits, the width of the mouth is 6j twelfths. 

 The tongue is l? inches long; its horny part 1\ twelfths, flat above, convex 

 beneath, for 4 twelfths from the tip furnished on each side, not with prickles, 

 but with several series of very slender filaments, which are directed obliquely 

 backwards. The covering of the fleshy part of the tongue is also bristled all 

 over with minute papillae directed backwards. The horns of the hyoid bone 

 curve round the occiput as in the other species, and then pass along the 

 median line until about 3 twelfths from the base of the bill. The oesophagus 

 is 3 inches 7 twelfths long, passes as usual along the right side of the neck, 

 and has a nearly uniform width of 3^- twelfths. The breadth of the pro- 

 ventriculus is 4 twelfths. The stomach is rather large, of an elliptical form, 

 placed obliquely, its length %\ twelfths, its greatest breadth 1 inch. The 

 lateral muscles are very large, one of them being 5 twelfths, the other 4 

 twelfths in thickness; the epithelium thin, tough, longitudinally rugous. 

 The contents of the stomach are remains of maize, some very hard small 

 seeds, and numerous particles of quartz. The intestine is rather short and 

 wide, its length 10^ inches, its width 3j twelfths. There are no cceca. The 

 cloaca is ovato-oblong, 9 twelfths long, 1\ twelfths in width. 



The trachea is 2 inches 8 twelfths in length; its breadth at the upper part 

 1^ twelfths, somewhat less toward the lower end, a little flattened; the rings 

 65, with 2 dimidiate, well ossified. The contractor muscles are moderate; 

 the sterno-tracheal slips come off at the distance of only 2 twelfths from the 

 lower extremity; and the inferior laryngeal slips are thus scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable. The cleido-tracheal muscles are inserted about the middle of 

 the furcula. The bronchial half rings are 12, slender, and cartilaginous. 



