PICIDiE. 



305 



shows an inferiority of strength to that possessed by the typical group. This diminution of 

 power is extended in a particular manner to the feet, the anterior outer toe \i. e. middle toe] 

 being longer and stronger than the posterior, — a structure the very reverse of that which 

 characterises the typical species. Wings obliquely pointed, the third and seventh nearly 

 equal, the fifth longest. — Sw. 



Dimensions 



Of the male. 







Inch. 



Lin. 





Iuch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 



Igt] 



ti, total 



20 







Length of bill to rictus 



. 2 



« 



Length of versatile toe 



, 



10 



,, 



of tail 



. 7 



6 



,, of tarsus 



1 



3 



,, of its nail . 



. 



7 



1, 



of wing 



. 9 



6 



„ of middle toe . 



. 1 



2 



,, of hind toe . 







5 



5> 



of bill above 



2 



3 



„ of its nail . 







71 



„ of its nail 



. 



4i 



The northern specimens vary two inches in their total length, the bill a quarter of an inch. 

 As the species approaches the confines of its geographic limits, its size is proportionably less. 

 A specimen before us, from Louisiana, for which we are indebted to Mr. Audubon, measures 

 only fifteen inches and a half in extreme length. — Sw. 



[101.] 2. Picus (Dendrocopus) villosus. (Swains.) Hairy Woodpecker. 



Genus, Picus, Linx. Sub-genus, Dendrocopus, Koch. 



Picus villosus. Forsteh, Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 388. 



Hairy Woodpecker (Picus villosus). Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., No. 164. Wils., i., p. 150, pi. 9, f. 3. 



Picus villosus. Sab. Frarikl. Journ., p. C77. Waglek, Sp. Av. Picus, 22. Bonap. Syn., No. 42. 



This species exists as far north as the sixty-third parallel, and is said by 

 Wilson to extend southwards to the Gulf of Mexico. It remains all the year 

 in the fur-countries, and is the most common species up to the fifty-sixth degree 

 of latitude, north of which it yields in frequency to the three-toed species. — R. 



We have been much perplexed in reconciling the Arctic specimens with 

 several others from New York and Philadelphia, in our possession. The general 

 marking and proportions, indeed, are the same ; but the latter are all much 



2 R 



