260 
AUDUBON’S WOODPECKER. 
sharp, and overlapping ; lower mandible with the angle rather long and 
narrow, the ridge very narrow, the sides convex, the edges sharp and 
inflected. Nostrils basal, oblong, near the edge, and concealed by the 
feathers. 
Head rather large, ovat.e; neck short; body rather full. Feet short; tarsus 
feathered anteriorly nearly half-way down, scutellate in the rest of its extent, 
and having a series of large scales internally behind ; toes four ; the first 
very short, the fourth longer than the third, which is united with the second 
at the base. Claws large, well curved, extremely compressed, laterally 
grooved, very acute. 
Plumage very soft, full, and blended. Wings rather long, the first quill 
only an inch and a twelfth in length, the second five-twelfths shorter than 
the third, which is one-twelfth shorter than the fourth, and an inch longer 
than the sixth. Tail of moderate length, cuneatc, of twelve feathers, of 
which the outer is only eight-twelfths long, the next ten-twelfths shorter 
than the longest. 
Bill greyish-blue. Iris brown. Feet bluish-grey, claws brown. The 
upper parts are black; the tufts covering the nostrils white ; on the anterior 
part of the top of the head are some feathers largely tipped with yellow, a 
band of white passes over the eye ; the loral space and that behind the eye 
are black ; a band of white passes from the angle of the mouth to the side of 
the occiput, and beneath it is a narrow band of black ; the feathers along the 
middle of the back are tipped with white ; the wings are spotted with white, 
some of the smaller coverts, the larger coverts, and all the quills being- 
marked with that colour, of which there are six spots on the outer and four 
on the inner web of the longer primaries ; the first primary has a slight spot 
at the base of the outer web, and two spots on the inner ; the second has two 
spots on the outer, and three on the inner web ; all the primaries except the 
two outer have a terminal white spot, the secondaries two, one on the outer, 
the other on the inner web. The four middle tail-feathers are black, the 
rest white toward the end, that colour enlarging so as to include almost the 
whole of the outer feathers. The lower parts are dull white, having a tinge 
of brown, the sides very faintly barred with dusky. 
Length to end of tail 7 inches ; extent of wings 13^ ; bill along the ridge 
along the edge of lower mandible 1 ; wing from flexure 4J ; tail 2 T 5 2 ; 
tarsus -*.j ; hind toe W, its claw T 2 | ; second toe j\, its claw /I ; third toe T 6 2 > 
its claw ; fourth toe T 6 4, its claw ■&. 
As Dr. Trudeau remarks, “’this species resembles the Hairy and Downy 
Woodpeckers in plumage, but is very distinct, and is intermediate in size 
between them.” 
