WOODPECKER. 407 



82— MINUTE WOODPECKER. 



Picus minutus, Ind. Orn. i. 243. Gerin. 1. 194. 2. Nat. Misc. pi. 44. Gen. Zool. ix. 



211. pi. 30. 

 Yunx minutissimus, Gm. Lin. i. 423. 

 Picus Cayanensis minor, Bris. iv. 83. 



- minutissimus, Pall. n. Nord. Beytr. iii. t. 1. f. 2. 

 Le tres petit Pic, Buf. vii. 37. PL enl. 786. 1. Ferm. Surin. ii. 170. 

 Le Charpentier nain, Voy. d' ' Azara, iv. No. 260. 

 Minute Woodpecker, Gen. Syn. ii. 596. 



SIZE of a Wren ; length three inches and a half; extent of wing 

 six. Bill black; top of the head blackish, minutely dotted with 

 red, so as to appear at a distance wholly of the last colour; hindhead 

 dotted in the same manner with white ; sides of the head brown, 

 with white spots, but less numerous; plumage on the upper parts of 

 the body dirty greyish, or rufous brown ; on the under greyish white, 

 the feathers bordered with brown ; quills and tail brown, with paler 

 edges; legs brown. 



One of these, supposed a female, had the whole crown black, 

 with minute spots of white, each feather being tipped with it ; the 

 plumage above olive green, the ends of the feathers pale, or dusky 

 yellow, especially the wing coverts ; all beneath marked with 

 alternate dusky and olive yellow bars ; the under wing coverts rufous 

 white ; quills dusky, with pale edges. 



BufFon mentions his bird as having the head gold-colour, like the 

 Gold-crested Wren ; but in the PI. enlum. referred to by that author, 

 I see no difference of colour in the crown from the rest of the body. 

 Whether this last bird, therefore, is the true female, and the one 

 supposed to be so, above mentioned, is uncertain ; if the female, the 

 other, no doubt, is a young male. 



This Species inhabits Cayenne, but by no means common. We 

 have seen two, answering the first description, from Trinidad ; and 



