YOUNG RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 
47 
inches and a half long' ; the spurious feather very short, 
the first primary subequal to the fifth, the second to 
the fourth, the third being longest ; the smaller wing- 
coverts are uniform with the back ; the larger are of a 
deeper black, and tipped with pure white ; the spurious 
wing is wholly deep black ; the under wing-coverts are 
pure white, blackish along the margin of the wing ; 
the primaries are plain black, tipped and edged exter- 
nally with whitish ; the secondaries are white, shafted 
with black, and with an acuminate, broad, subterminal 
band, which, running from one to the other, takes a 
zigzag appearance; the tail is four inches long, and, 
like those of all the woodpeckers we have examined, 
composed of twelve feathers, of which the outer on 
each side is extremely short and inconspicuous, and 
pure white, with a black shaft. All the others, which 
are very acute, longer, and more acuminate, and stiffer 
as they approach the centre, are black, and, except the 
two middle ones, slightly whitish each side of the shaft 
at tip, the outer being also of that colour on its outer 
margin. The feet are dark plumbeous, the tarsus being 
seven-eighths of an inch long, and feathered for a short 
space in front. 
The young of both sexes are, no less than the adult, 
perfectly alike ; as they advance in age, the margins of 
the feathers disappear, and the black becomes deep and 
glossy, and all the colours much purer ; the scarlet of 
the head comes on very gradually, so that specimens 
are found with merely a reddish tinge, and generally 
with a few dots on the hind neck. No such mark 
appears at first. 
In the adult, the whole head, neck, and breast, are 
bright and deep scarlet, with the feathers black at base ; 
the back, scapulars, and smaller wing-coverts, are rich 
glossy black; the rump, upper tail-coverts, and from 
the breast beneath, white, the bottom of the plumage 
being plumbeous, and the tail-coverts with blackish 
shafts ; the wings and tail are black ; the lower wing- 
coverts pure white, with the margin of the wing deep 
black ; the secondaries are white, shafted to near the 
