PICIDjE. 



Under plumage yellowish-grey, obscurely barred with blackish-grey, 

 shorter than the old bird ; the members in proportion *. 



311 



It is nearly an inch 











DIMENSIONS 



Of the mature mc 



tie. 













Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin 





Inch. Lii; 



]gt 



h, total 



. 9 







Length of bill to rictus 



. 1 



2 



Length of outer hind toe 



7: 



11 



of tail . 



2 



10 



„ of tarsus 







10 



,, of its nail 



. 4 





of wing 



. 4 



9 



,, of middle toe 



. 



8 



,, of inner hind toe 



3: 



« 



of bill above 



. 1 







„ of middle nail 







4i 



,, of its nail 



. 2 



— R, 



[104.] 5. Picus (Apternus) tridactylus. (Swainson.) Common Three- 

 toed Woodpecker. 



Genus, Picus, Linn. Sub-genus, Apternusf, pi. 50, Swains. 



Three-toed Woodpecker {Picus Canadensis, digitis tribus). Edwards, pi. 114. 



Picus tridactylus. Forster, Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 388, No. 14. 



Three-toed Woodpecker. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 275, No. 168. 



Picus hirsutus ? Vieil. Ois. de I' Am., ii., pi. 124. 



Ch. Sp. Picus (Apternus) tridactylus, albo nigroque varius, sineipite rnaculalo, vertice pallide croceo, rostra 



maxime depresso. 

 Sp. Ch. Common Three-toed Woodpecker, varied with black and white; forehead spotted; crown pale 



yellow ; bill considerably depressed. 



This bird exists in all the forests of spruce-fir lying between Lake Superior and 

 the Arctic Sea, and it is the most common Woodpecker north of Great Slave 

 Lake. It much resembles the P. villosus 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. — R. 



It would be tedious, and it is perhaps unnecessary, to show in what manner all 

 preceding ornithologists have confounded the northern three-toed Woodpeckers ; 

 since no two species can be more distinct than those here described and figured. 

 It is more than probable that the species described by Brisson, from Cayenne, 

 with a red crown, is different from either ; while that of Guiana, mentioned by 

 Bancroft as having the belly " bright crimson," is probably a fourth. The two 

 latter, however, for the present, must be placed among the ambiguous species, 

 since we know not to which of the genera of the Piciarue they truly belong. — Sw. 



* The markings on the wings and tail, with the comparative lengths and proportions of the quills and tarsi, and 

 the construction of the bill, are indubitable indications of this bird being the young of P. varius, though it differs very 

 materially from the beautiful figure given by Prince Charles Bonaparte, as above quoted. — Sw. 



| Th. «, priv., et tT^voi. calx. 



