118 
U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEY.—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
COLAPTES AURATUS, Swain son. 
Flicker; Yellow Shafted Woodpecker; High Holder. 
Cuculus auratus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. x, 1758, I, 112. 
Picus auratus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, ed. xii, 176G, 174. — Forster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 383. — Vieillot, Ois 
Am. Sept. II, 1807, 66 ; pi. cxxiii— Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1810, 45 ; pi. iii, f. ].— Wagler, Syst. 
Av. 1827, No. 84.— Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 191 : V, 540; pi. 37. —Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 
282 ; pi. 273. 
Colaptes auratus, Sw. Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 353.—Ib. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 314 .—Bon. List, 1838 .—Ib. Conspectus, 
1850, 113. 
Sp. Ch.—S hafts and under surfaces of wing and tail feathers gamboge yellow. A black patch on each side of the cheek. A 
red cresc nt on the nape. Throat and stripe beneath the eye pale lilac brown. Back glossed with olivaceous green. Female 
without the black check patch. 
Length, 12| inches ; wing, 6. 
Additional Characters. — A crescentic patch on the and rounded spots on the belly black. Back and wing coverts 
with interrupted transverse bands of black. Neck above and on sides ashy. 
jj a h_ _Eastern North America to the eastern slopes of Rocky mountains ; Greenland, (Reinhardt.) 
In this species the hill is slightly curved ; a little broader than deep. The first quill is very 
short; the third, fourth, and fifth about equal,.and longest; the second intermediate between 
the seventh and eighth. 
The prevailing color of the hack of this species is a light olivaceous brown, with a very slight 
tinge of green ; each feather with a crescentic hand of black near the end ; sometimes with 
more. The top of the head and the upper part of the neck half way round are bluish ash ; the 
former with a tinge of reddish brown, increasing to the base of the hill. The neck, throat, and 
sides of the breast are of a pale purplish brown ;_ the sides of the head from the nostrils to 
around the eye, and including the ear coverts, are similar, with, perhaps, more of a cinnamon 
tin^e. There is a black patch or whisker on the cheek, commencing at the base of the lower 
mandible, and of that width, and enlarging as it extends backwards to its truncated posterior 
extremity, which is nearly twice as high as anteriorly. There is a carmine red crescentic collar 
on the nape, (in the ash color described,) the branches coming round to such an extent on the 
side of the head that the eye (in the prepared skin) appears to he intermediate between it and 
the nostrils. The rump is pure white ; the tail coverts barred transversely with white and 
black. The lower parts are yellowish white, tinged with brownish ; each feather with a nearly 
circular spot of black near the end; these spots larger posteriorly and on the tail coverts. 
The under surfaces and shafts of the wing and tail feathers are bright gamboge yellow ; the 
shafts above yellow on the upper surface. On the outer edges of the secondary quills are some 
spots of the color of the hack, forming a series of bars ; the primaries with only faint traces of 
the same. The quills are margined near the basal portion of their edges with pale huff yellow, 
of which color are the under wing coverts. The upper surfaces and tips of the tail feathers are 
black • the rest of the under surfaces gamboge yellow. The external tail feather has a few 
indentations of paler yellow on the outer edge, and all (excepting the central) are slightly 
tipped with the same. 
ihe female is almost precisely similar, except in lacking the black cheek patches; this is, 
however, obscurely indicated. The red nuchal band is persistent. 
Specimens vary in size of body and bill, size and exact shape of the spots on the under parts, 
which are sometimes larger or smaller, sometimes slightly transverse, circular, or somewhat 
