BIRDS FROM COSTA RICA—-WETMORE 53 
I have followed present usage in calling this specimen similis but 
feel that the species is one in need of revision when more material 
becomes available. 
CENTURUS HOFFMANNII Cabanis 
Centurus Hoffmannii Capantis, Journ. fiir Orn., 1862, p. 8322 (Costa Rica). 
Near Liberia Hoffmann’s woodpecker was a common species through 
regions of groves in fields and pastures and was observed daily. In 
fact, the first bird that I obtained as a specimen on the expedition 
was of this species when, with Dr. Juvenal Valerio Rodriguez, Director 
of the Museo Nacional, I shot one at the Rio Liberia near town on 
October 19. Others were taken here on October 21 and 22. At the 
Hacienda Santa Maria a few were found near the house in the coffee 
plantation and in the trees of the pastures nearby. ‘Two were taken 
on November 10 and 14. I saw them feeding on the juice of ripe 
oranges and sometimes noted that one bird claimed as feeding terri- 
tory one or two orange trees, attempting to keep others away. 
This woodpecker in color and markings is closely similar to Centurus 
aurifrons aurifrons and the related C. a. polygrammus and C. a. fron- 
talis but differs from these in relative proportion of tail to wing, the 
tail being appreciably shorter. While evidently of the same group, 
hoffmanniu on this basis is to be regarded as specifically distinct. 
It may be noted also that it is smaller, the wing measurement in the 
largest hoffmannii being slightly shorter than in the smallest of the 
aurifrons group that I have examined. I believe that hoffmanni 
and those races of aurifrons that are generally similar in bold color 
pattern of the dorsal surface, and otherwise resemble one another in 
coloration, are near the primitive stock from which these woodpeckers 
have come. 
Family DENDROCOLAPTIDAE 
DENDROCINCLA HOMOCHROA ACEDESTA Oberholser 
Dendrocincla homochroa acedesta OBERHOLSER, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 
Apr. 1904, p. 462 (Chiriqui, Panam4). 
Four of these woodhewers were taken near the Hacienda Santa 
Maria November 10 and 12 as they climbed over tree trunks near the 
ground in company with a little band of other birds that were gathered 
Over a moving line of ants. They were quiet and were found only by 
careful watching, though their ochre-brown color caught the eye as 
they moved behind branches. On the back of the neck the feathering 
is interrupted by a distinct apterium that leaves much of this area bare. 
The head is large, while the slender neck has the skin closely applied, 
so that in preparing them as specimens I had to split the skin over the 
back of the head to pull through the skull. 
