BIRDS-PICIDAE—SPHYRAPICUS WILLIAMSONII. 
105 
The shade of red sometimes varies to a more purplish tinge. The white on the wing is 
confined to the outermost middle and greater coverts ; the quills spotted on both webs except 
the innermost and outermost ones. The under wing coverts are white, slightly spotted (not 
banded) with black. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col¬ 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
5959 
6040 
2796 
2797 
1938 
3896 
6038 
6039 
Mar. —, 1855 
Oct. —, 1854 
Oct. 28, 1835 
Shoahvater bay, W. T.... 
9.25 
15.75 
5.37 
Iris, bill, and feet 
pale brown. 
s 
S. F. Baird ... 
Q 
July 8, 1835 
1853. 
.do. 
Lieut. Williamson.... 
w 
SPHYRAPICUS WILLIAMSONII, Baird. 
Williamson’s Woodpecker. 
Picus williamsonii, Newberry, Zool. California and Oregon Route, 89: P. R. R. Repts. VI, 1857; pi. xxxiv, 
fig. 1. 
Melanerpes rubrigularis, Sclater, Annals and Mag. N. H. 3d series, I, Feb. 1858, 127. 
Sp. Ch. —Black ; middle line of belly yellow ; central line of chin and throat above red. A large patch on the wing, rump, 
and upper tail coverts, a line from the forehead beneath the eye, and another from its upper border, white. Tail entirely black. 
Exposed surface of wing without any white, except on the outer primaries. Female with the chin white instead of red. Length 
9 inches ; wing, 5 inches ; tail, 4.70 inches. 
Hab .—Rocky mountains to the Cascade mountains. 
Head and neck all round, sides of breast and body, upper parts generally, wings, and tail 
glossy greenish black. A well defined white stripe from the nostrils, (including the bristly 
nasal feathers,) passing backwards under the eye; another nearly parallel starting at the upper 
part of the eye, and nearly meeting its fellow on the occiput. Chin and throat red along their 
central line. A large patch on the wing, including the exposed portions of the middle and 
greater coverts, white, although, the anterior lesser coverts are black. The inner face of the 
wings is white, banded transversely with white ; the sides of body behind and under tail 
coverts white, with broadly Y-shaped bands of black, which color on the latter occupies the 
whole central portion of the feathers'. Rump and upper tail coverts pure white ; back with a 
few indistinct and concealed spots of the same. Quills black; the margins of exterior primaries 
spotted with white, the inner margins only of the remaining quills, with similar but larger and 
more transverse blotches. Middle of the body, from the breast to the vent, sulphur yellow. 
Female similar, but with the chin white instead of red. 
This beautiful species of woodpecker was first collected by Dr. Newberry, August 23, 1855, 
on the shores of Klamath lake, southern Oregon. The specimen—a female—was badly shot, 
and thrown into alcohol, which extracted the yellow color of the belly, leaving it a dull Avhite. 
In this state it was figured and published in Dr. Newberry’s report, in 1857, made to Lieutenant 
Abbot. A male in good plumage was, however, taken by Dr. Hayden, on the 24th of August, 
1857, on Laramie Peak. 
14 b 
