in Various Species of North American Birds. 179 
92. Picus villosus* 
First plumage : male. F orehead spotted thickly with white ; crown dull 
scarlet, each feather subterminally spotted with white ; nuchal crescent 
entirely wanting. Rest of upper parts dull dead black, marked and 
spotted with white as in the adult. Lores yellowish-white, maxillary line 
very faintly indicated. Beneath soiled yellowish-white. From a speci- 
men in my collection shot at Upton, Me., August 1, 1874. The first 
plumage of this species is exceedingly evanescent. The scarlet patch 
upon the crown is soon lost, the feathers dropping out one by one ; a few 
scattered ones, however, usually remain until the feathers of the nuchal 
crescent have begun to appear. 
A female in first plumage (Upton, Me., August 20, 1874) differs so 
little from adults as scarcely to require a detailed description. The black 
of the upper parts, as in the male just described, is of a dead or plumbe- 
ous cast. The crown is entirely unspotted. I have, however, seen speci- 
mens which had the forehead spotted with white. 
93. Picus villosus harrisi. 
First plumage : male. Differs from the adult only in having the fore- 
head spotted with white, and a patch of scarlet covering the crown. 
From a specimen in my cabinet collected by Mr. C. A. Allen at Nicasio, 
Cal., June 8, 1875. 
94. Picus pubescens. 
First plumage : male. Forehead and nape thickly spotted with white. 
Crown deep scarlet ; no red on nape ; rest of upper parts marked as in the 
adult, but the black duller. Beneath ashy -white, thickly streaked on the 
sides of the breast and body with dusky ; on the sides of the abdomen 
these dusky markings assume the character of broad though poorly defined 
transverse bars. From a specimen in my cabinet collected at Upton, Me., 
August 14, 1874. Several other young males show a considerable amount 
of variation in the character and extent of the dusky markings beneath. 
In one or two the streaks are nearly continuous across the breast and abdo- 
men. A very young male (Upton, August 1, 1874) has the forehead and 
* As stated elsewhere, the young of most, if not all of the Woodpeckers, 
regularly moult the wing and tail feathers with the rest of the first plumage. 
No exceptions to this rule occur among large series of the common North 
American species examined, and it may probably be found to hold good among 
all excepting, perhaps, some highly specialized groups. Another peculiar feature 
in the early development of the species most thoroughly investigated, and one 
which is perhaps common to all the members of this family, is the fact that a 
certain proportion of the females in first plumage possess to a greater or less 
degree the adornments which in more advanced stages are peculiar to the 
males alone, and which are lost with the first moult. Marked examples of this 
are afforded by young females of Colaptes auratus, Picus pubescens , and others, of 
which detailed descriptions are given in the text. 
