THREE-TOEp WOODPECKERo 
are not like scales, but like the appearance of 
scales : and, that the red on the crown of the 
head is an orange red, or gold-colour, as is 
more accurately noticed by Edwards. 
The figure of this bird," says BufFon, 
agrees perfectly with Brisson's description 
^f the Variegated Cayenne Woodpecker; ex- 
•tept that the former has four toes, as usual, 
and the latter only three. W e cannot, how- 
ever, doubt the existence of Three-Toed 
Woodpeckers. Linnsus describes one found 
in Dalecarlia ; Schmidt, one in Siberia ; and we 
are informed, by Lottinger, that it occurs also 
in Switzerland. The Three-Toed Wood- 
pecker appears, therefore, to inhabit the north 
of both continents. Ought the want of the 
toe to be regarded as a specific character, or 
considered as only an accidental defect? It 
would require a great many observations, to 
answer that question. But it may l)e denied 
that the same bird inhabits, also, the equatorial 
regions ; though, after Brisson, it is termed the 
Spotted Cayenne Woodpecker, in the Planches 
Enluminees.'* 
We 
