00 
U. S. P. R. R. ESP. AND SURVEYS— ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
along the central line being white, more or less edged externally with black. The scapulars 
are unspotted, hut all the greater coverts have about two spots of white, sometimes two on the 
outer and one on the inner webs. All the quills excepit the spurious primary are spotted with 
white on both webs. A series of four white bands is seen over the outer webs of the secondaries 
when the wing is folded, (one of them at the end.) There is a white hand above the eye, and 
another below, with two black stripes, all much as in P. villosus, the black confluent with the 
black of the neck, the white interrupted behind, the upper white stripe sometimes extending to 
the whitish feathers of the base of the hill. In the male the posterior portion of the upper 
white stripe on the occiput is tipped with scarlet, producing a hand about a quarter of an inch 
long. The under parts are dirty white. The black of the neck comes a little forward in front 
of the wing, producing a black patch on the side of the breast. The first and second tail 
feathers are white, their extreme base and the two hands near the end black, the anterior of 
these hands interrupted in the middle, the inner portion wanting in the second. The third 
feather has the terminal half-inch, and the posterior half of the outer web white, with a round 
black spot on the inner weh, near the end. The fourth feather is black, with a narrow white 
edge externally towards the end. The female differs in the absence of the red hand. 
The young male has the entire crown spotted with red of varying tint, which is never 
perfectly continuous ; the red is sometimes wanting anteriorly, and sometimes the red is also 
spotted with white. There is usually more or less of obscure black spots or streaks on the 
under parts. The young also have the same curvature of hill, and other characteristics of 
immaturity, as described in P. villosus. 
In some specimens (as in 860) the white stripe above the eye extends forward, and involves 
the entire space anterior to the eye. There is little difference in the amount of black on the 
outer tail feathers. Sometimes the white on the side of the crown is confluent behind, as also 
the crimson in the male ; in others, again, both are distinctly separated by black. One speci¬ 
men from Ohio (6698) has the bristly feathers of the bill, with the chin and throat, tinged with 
reddish. Western specimens are not appreciably different. 
This species is much smaller than P. villosus. The essential differences in coloration are 
found in the bands of black on the outer tail feathers, and in having two series of white spots 
on the larger wing coverts, instead of one. There is less black in front of the eye ; in fact, the 
lower white stripe extends upwards generally to the antero-inferior corner of the eye, so as to 
cut off the black behind it from that anterior to it. The wing is spotted near its anterior edge, 
the amount of white proportionally greater. 
The Picus lecontii of Dr. Jones appears to be precisely like P. pubescens, except that it has 
but three toes. It is very probable that this is merely an accidental feature in one specimen, 
one toe on each foot not having been developed. Only one specimen of the supposed species 
has been seen or obtained ; this was taken near the seacoast of Georgia. The size is rather less 
than specimens of P. pubescens from Pennsylvania, as was to be expected, from the more 
southern habitat. The missing toe is the short inner posterior one. 
