BANDED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 
269 
resembles the P. villosus (by which I presume is meant P. canadensis , as 
already explained) in its habits, except that it seeks its food principally on 
decaying trees of the pine tribe, in which it frequently makes holes large 
enough to bury itself. It does not migrate.” 
I have represented the male and the female, from specimens lent to me by 
the Council of the Zoological Society of London. 
Picus hirsutus, Vieill. Ois. de l’Amer., vol. ii. p. 124. 
Picus (Apternus) tridactylus, Common Three-toed Woodpecker , Swains and Rich. 
F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 311. 
Common Three-toed Woodpecker, Picus hirsutus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol, v. p. 184. 
Male, 9 ; wing, 4 T 5 2. 
From Lake Superior to the Arctic Sea. Abundant. Resident. 
Adult Male. 
Bill about the length of the head, straight, strong, angular, depressed at 
the base, compressed toward the tip, which is very slightly truncate and 
cuneate. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge very 
narrow, the sides sloping and flat, the lateral a . >le much nearer the edge, 
which is sharp, direct, and overlapping. Lower mandible with the angle 
short and rather wide, the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow, the sides 
convex, the edges inflected, the tip pointed. Nostrils oblong, basal, con- 
cealed by the feathers, and placed near the margin. 
Head large, ovate ; neck rather short ; body full. Feet very short ; tarsus 
short, compressed, feathered anteriorly more than one-third down, scutellate 
in the rest of its extent, as well as behind on the inner side ; toes three, the 
first Avanting ; the fourth or outer reversed toe considerably longer than the 
third, Avhich is united to the inner at the base ; all scutellate above. Claws 
large, much curved, compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. 
Plumage very soft, full, blended. A large tuft of reversed stiffish feathers 
on each side of the base of the upper mandible, concealing the nostrils ; the 
feathers in the angle of the lower mandible also stiffish and directed for- 
wards. Wings rather long; the first quill very small, being only eleven- 
twelfths long, the second five twelfths shorter than the third, which is one- 
twelfth shorter than the fourth, this being the longest, but scarcely exceed- 
ing the fifth; secondaries broad and rounded. Tail of moderate ength, 
cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the lateral, which are rounded and 
unworn, are only one inch long, the next, also unworn, are one inch and 
on -Avelfth shorter than the m dd e. 
Bill bluish-grey, dusky toward the end. Feet b’uish-crey, the scutella 
and claws black. The general colour of the upper parts is deep glossy black, 
