BIRDS — PICIDAE — MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS. 
113 
Comparative measurements of species. 
Catal, 
No. 
Melanerpes erythrocephalu? 
Melanerpes formicivnrus. 
do 
Melanerpes torquatus .... 
Carlisle 
...do 
Fort Riley 
( 'alifornia 
Petaluma 
Tulare valley .. 
California 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Middle 
toe. 
Its claw 
alone. 
0.38 
0.40 
0.42 
MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS, Swainson. 
Red-headed Woodpecker. 
Picus erythrocephalus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 174.— Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 60; pi. cxii, cxiii. — 
Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1810, 142 ; pi. ix, fig. 1.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 14.— Ib. Isis, 
1829, 518, (young.)— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 141 : V, 536, pi. 27.— Ib. Birds America, 
IV, 1842, 274; pi. 271. 
Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Sw. F. B. A. II, 1831, 316.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 115 — Gambel, J. 
Ac Nat. Sc. Ph. 2d ser. I, 1847, 55. 
Pints obscurus, Gm. I, 1788, 429, (young.) 
Red-headed woodpecker, Pennant, Kalm, Latham. 
White-rumped woodpecker, Latham. 
Sp. Ch.— Head and neck all round crimson red, margined by a narrow crescent of black on the upper part of the breast. 
Back, primary quills, and tail bluish black. Under parts generally, a broad band across the middle of the wing, and the rump 
white. The female is not different. Length about 9^ inches ; wing, 5£. 
Hab. — North America, from the Atlantic coast to the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. (Coast of California, Gambel.) 
The crimson feathers on the head and neck all round have the same bristly texture as 
described under M. torquatus. The red descends much lower below than above ; its posterior 
outline well defined and semi-circular. The white on the wing involves the whole of the 
secondaries and tertiaries, except the extreme base ; the shafts are black. There is a yellowish 
tinge to the white on the middle of the belly, and the exterior tail feathers are tipped with 
whitish. The inside of the wing is white. 
I can detect no difference in western specimens. Occasionally the secondaries and tertiaries are 
blotched or barred with black near the end, (587.) Immature specimens almost always have this 
character. The young lack the red of the head, which is replaced by brown obscurely spotted 
and streaked. Dr. Gambel speaks of this species as common in oak timber near the Mission 
of San Gabriel, California, but none have been noticed west of the mountains by any one else. 
15 b 
