8 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
their colouring is, as their name implies, principally black and 
white. The majority of them are northern birds, being found 
m Europe and Northern Asia, and also in North America. In 
the New \VorId the genus reappears in a curious way, as no 
species is found to the south of the Isthmus of Panama until 
D.Jtgnanus and B. mixtus are met with from Peru to Chili 
and in Southern Brazil and Argentina. ^ 
There are but two species resident in the British Islands, a 
large and a small one, which are described below. 
I. THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. DENDROCOPUS MAJOR. 
Picus major, Linn. S. N. i. p. 176 (1766) ; Dresser, B. Eur. v. 
?■ (1S71); Seeb. Br. B. ii. p. 354 (1884); Lil- 
ford. Col. Iig. Br. B. pt. vii. (1888). 
Pirns pipra, Macg. Br. B. iii. p. 80 (1840). 
Dendrocopus major, Newt. ed. Yarn Br. B. ii. p. 470 (1881) • 
?'q 9 ' y' P- 77 (1883); Saunders, Man. p. 265 
(1889)1 Hargitt, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xviii. p. 211 (1890). 
Adult Male — General colour above black and white; the 
scapular plumes white, slightly dingy ; quills spotted or barred 
With white, the spots or patches on the closed wing giving the 
appearance of five bars; tail black, the four median feathers 
entirely of this colour, the next ones black at the base, white 
y ^ I yP Plutnes black ; forehead 
drabby-brown; crown of head and nape blue-black, the occiput 
red ; sides of face white ; a broad moustachial band of black 
connected with the black nape ; under surface drabby-brown 
from the throat to the breast; remainder of under surface 
crimson ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the lower 
coverts spotted with black; “bill slaty-black; legs, feet, and 
claws dark brown ; iris red ” {H. Seebohm). Total length 10 
inches; culmen, I'l ; wing, 5'5 ; tail, 37 ; tarsus, I'o. 
Adult Female.— Similar to the male in colour, but having no 
red on the occiput ; the entire head is, in consequence, black 
Size about the same as that of the male. 
Young.— More dingily coloured than the adults, especially 
below, the crimson on the abdomen being very dull. They may 
easily be told by their red crowns, by the white tips to the 
