LEWIS' WOODPECKER. 281 



they had started; as they near the latter again, they spread their wings 

 horizontally, and sail to their perch like some of the Hawks. Both sexes 

 incubate." 



Lewis' Woodpecker, Picus torquatus. Wils. Amer. Orn.. vol. iii. p. 31. 



Picus TORQ.UATUS, Bonap. Syn., p. 46. 



Lewis' Woodpecker, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 577. 



Lewis' Woodpecker, Picus torquatus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 176. 



Male, 11, wing, 7 T V 



Rocky Mountains and Columbia river. Abundant. Migratory. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, nearly straight, strong, compressed, 

 tapering, pointed, very slightly truncate and wedged at the tip. Upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge convex at the base, 

 very narrow in the rest of its extent, the sides sloping and considerably 

 convex, the lateral angle slight, and near the ridge, the edges sharp, direct, 

 overlapping, the tip almost acuminate. Lower mandible with the angle 

 rather short and wide, the crural outline concave, the dorsal ascending, 

 straight, the ridge narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp and inflected, 

 the base faintly striated. Nostrils oblong, basal, nearer the ridge, concealed 

 by the feathers. 



Head of moderate size, ovate; neck rather short; body full. Feet very 

 short; tarsus very short, feathered anteriorly more than one-third down, in 

 the rest of its extent covered with a few large scutella, compressed, sharp- 

 edged and internally with small scutella behind; toes four, first toe small, 

 fourth rather longer than the third, second and third united at the base; all 

 scutellate above; claws large, much curved, compressed, laterally grooved, 

 very acute. 



Plumage full, soft, blended, glossy above, rude beneath. A tuft of 

 reversed stiff feathers on each side at the base of the upper mandible; the 

 feathers in the angle of the lower mandible also stiff. Wings long, the first 

 quill very small, being only an inch and a half in length; the second ten- 

 twelfths shorter than the third, which is a twelfth and a half shorter than 

 the fourth; the fifth longest, being a twelfth and a half longer than the fourth; 

 secondaries broadly rounded. Tail of moderate length, very strong, of ten 

 feathers, all of which are pointed and slit, the shaft terminating abruptly, 

 the lateral feathers ten and a half twelfths shorter than the middle. 



Bill dusky, bluish-grey toward the base. Feet bluish-grey. The general 

 colour of the upper parts is black, highly glossed with green; a band across 

 the forehead, the throat, and a broad patch on the side of the head, surround- 

 ing the eye, deep carmine or blood-red; beyond this the throat and part of 



Vol. IV. 39 



