82 
U. S. P. R. R EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
In the male the entire crown (with its elongated feathers) is black. The scarlet commences 
just above the middle of the eye, and, passing backwards a short distance, widens behind and 
bends down as far as the level of the under edge of the lower jaw. The feathers, which spring 
from the back of the head, are much elongated above ; considerably longer than those of the 
crown. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
1830 
Q 
Southern States_^___ 
S. F. Baird_ 
Prairie Mer Rouge, La_L___ 
.T. Fn.irifi 
CAMPEPHILUS IMPERIALS. 
Imperial Woodpecker. 
Picus imperialis, Gould, Pr. Comm. Sc. Zool. Soc. II, 1832, 140. —Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 313.—Ib. Birds Am. 
IV, 1842, 213, (no fig.)— Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed., 1840, 667. 
Dryocopus imperialis, Bon. Consp. 1850, 132. 
Megapicus imperialis, Bonaf. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. May, 1854, 7. 
Dnjotomus imperialis, Cassin, Ulust. I, 1855, 285 ; pi. xlix. 
Sp. Ch. —Entirely black ; a short scapular stripe, the whole of the tertiaries, secondaries, and the inner primaries, and the 
under wing coverts, white. A broad depressed nuchal crest ; red in the male. Bill ivory white ; its bristly feathers black. 
Length about 24 inches ; wing, 13.25 ; tail, 9.50. 
Hab. —Chiefly Central America and southwestern Mexico. 
This species, in form and general appearance, is very similar to the ivory hill woodpecker. 
The hill, feet, wings, and tail are much the same. The principal difference, besides the much 
greater size, is in the absence of the white line on the side of the neck of P. principalis , which 
starts just behind the commissure, and runs into the scapular stripe common to both. The 
bristly feathers along the base of the hill are black, instead of white. 
The feathers of the crown are black ; the posterior ones elongated, hut not reaching back as 
far as the elongated depressed occipital crest of scarlet. This color commences just above the 
middle of the eye, (the eyelid being black, however,) and widens behind, so as to embrace the 
entire hack of the head. These feathers are, however, all white just below the scarlet. 
I have followed Audubon and Cassin in assigning this species to the United States, hut it has 
really no claim to being considered as one of our birds, no specimen having been actually taken 
in our limits, nor probably coming within hundreds of miles of our southern border. The P. 
lineatus given by Audubon I have omitted entirely, as being still less entitled to a place. 
Measurements. 
Locality. 
Sex. 
Point of bill 
to end of tail. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Middle 
toe. 
Its .claw 
alone. 
Bill 
above. 
Along 
gape. 
Remarks. 
Mexico 1 __ 
s 
23. 50 
13. 20 
9.30 
2. 00 
2. 38 
.88 
3. 60 
3.70 
Mounted. 
1 From specimen in Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. 
