Sphyrapicus varius. 
Descriptions of First Plumage of Cer¬ 
tain North Am, Bbs. Wm.Brewater. 
96. Sphyrapicus varius. 
First plumage : male. Crown dull yellowish-green obscurely tinged in 
places with dusky-red ; nape and a broad stripe extending through and 
behind the eye dull plumbeous-ash spotted with brownish-white ; rest of 
upper parts like the adults, the white spots, however, tinged with pale 
greenish-yellow. Throat dull yellowish-scarlet. Malar stripes meeting 
below the throat-patch, mottled with dusky. Central line of abdomen 
greenish-yellow ; rest of under parts dull greenish and olive, barred every¬ 
where with dusky or dull black. From a specimen in my collection shot 
at Upton, Me., August 10, 1874. The amount of variation exhibited by a 
large series of males in first plumage is considerable. In one or two there 
is no red upon the throat; in others that part is brownish-white with a 
few scattered red feathers ; many have the crown dull-brown, thickly 
spotted with brownish-white. 
First plumage: female. Crown very pale greenish-buff, each feather 
narrowly tipped with brown ; feathers of interscapular region dusky, with 
transverse bands of yellowish-white ; rest of upper parts like the adult. 
Throat brownish-white ; abdomen pale brownish-yellow ; breast and sides 
dull brownish-olive, thickly barred with dusky. From a specimen in my 
collection shot at Upton, Me., August 6, 1873. 
The first plumage of this species is worn for a longer period than that 
of any other bird with which I am acquainted. Some specimens taken as 
late as October and November seem not to have fully perfected their first 
moult, many of the earlier feathers being still retained. In this condition 
they present a curiously patched appearance, and scarcely any two are 
alike. Full justice has hardly been done by writers to the adult plumage 
of this species. Among the males, it is true, only a comparatively small 
amount of variation obtains, and the full dress is always acquired the first 
spring. But the females in spring plumage differ to a degree which seems 
almost endless. This mutation is, however, chiefly in relation to the color 
and markings of the crown. Thus, out of thirteen females before me, all 
collected in the breeding season, only six have the full patch of crimson 
upon the crown. In one specimen the whole top of the head is spotted 
thickly and evenly with brownish-white. Another exhibits two lateral 
patches of brownish-orange which extend nearly to the occiput, while a 
third has a few scarlet feathers upon the forehead. The remainder are 
variously marked over the crown with mixed yellow and crimson. This 
excessive variability is probably a purely individual tendency to aberration 
from a given type, as several spring females not as yet through the 
moult, and plainly shown by the remains of the previous plumage to 
be birds entering upon their first breeding season, have fully developed 
crown-patches of pure crimson. 
Bull. N.0.0. 3, Oct., 1878, P . /frO -/£/• 
