Sphyropicus varius, var. ruber, Baird
THE RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER
Picus ruber, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 429.—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 151.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 179, pl. ccccxvi.—Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 261, pl. cclxvi.—Sundevall, Consp. Pic. 32. Melanerpes ruber, Rich. List, Pr. Br. Assoc. for 1835.—Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. 1850, 115. Pilumnus ruber, Bon. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Picus flaviventris, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 67. Sphyropicus ruber, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 104.—Cooper & Suckley, 160.—Gray, Cat. 51.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 392. Cladoscopus ruber, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 1863, 82.
Sp. Char. Fourth quill longest; third intermediate between fourth and fifth. Bill brown wax-color. Head and neck all round, and breast, carmine-red. Above black, central line of back from nape to rump spotted with whitish; rump, wing-coverts, and inner web of the inner tail-feathers white, the latter with a series of round black spots. Belly sulphur-yellow, streaked with brown on the sides. Narrow space around and a little in front of the eye black. A yellowish stripe from the nostrils, a short distance below and behind the eye. Length, about 8.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.40. Sexes similar.
Hab. Pacific slopes of the United States.
As stated in the remarks before the synopsis on page 1133, there is every reason for considering this as merely a geographical race of a species, of which nuchalis and varius are the other forms. The differences from varius consist merely in an excessive amount of red, this obliterating the normal pattern of the cephalic portions; and in an increased amount of black, or a manifestation of the melanistic tendency so often distinguishing birds of the Pacific coast region from their eastern co-specific representatives.
S. nuchalis is exactly intermediate in all respects between S. ruber and S. varius,—the extremes,—while each of the latter is connected with the intermediate race by specimens combining the characters of both races.
Habits. The geographical distribution of this form seems to be restricted to the Pacific coast region.
Dr. Cooper only met with these birds three times in Washington Territory. This was in spring and fall. He speaks of them as being very shy, silent, and retiring, remaining among the dense tops of the dark forest trees. Whether it resides and breeds in the Territory he had no means of determining. Dr. Suckley saw but one specimen, and regarded it as confined, for the most part, to the close vicinity of the coast.
Mr. Audubon assigns to it the same distribution, but is only able to give the information in regard to its habits which he derived from the observations of Mr. Nuttall, which, however, do not correspond with those of Dr. Cooper. Mr. Nuttall states that this species, seen in the forests of the Columbia and the Blue Mountains, has most of the habits of the common Red-headed species. He concedes that it is less familiar, and that it keeps generally among the tall fir-trees, in the dead trunks of which it burrows out a hole for a nest, sometimes at a great elevation. On approaching one that was feeding its young in one of these situations, it uttered a loud reverberating t’rr, and seemed angry and solicitous at his approach. He adds that this species also inhabits California, as well as the northwest coast up to Nootka, and that it is found eastward as far as the central chain of the Rocky Mountains. An egg taken from a nest which contained four was 1.25 in length and .75 of an inch in breadth. It was smooth, equally rounded at both ends, though somewhat elongated, and pure white.
We are confident that there must be some mistake in this statement. The disproportion between the length and the breadth is unprecedented. Even in the most oblong egg there is rarely so much as twenty-five per cent difference.
Dr. Cooper, in his Birds of California, speaks of it as rather a northern bird, having seen none south of Santa Clara, and there only in the mountains of the Coast Range in early spring.
Dr. Heermann found this form not at all rare in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and occasionally met a stray one among the valleys. Their call-note was similar to the cry of a child in distress, and was very disagreeable. In their quick, restless motions, and their untiring diligence in quest of food, they resemble the rest of the Woodpecker family.
It was noticed by Mr. Ridgway only on the Sierra Nevada, and he is not certain that he saw it on the eastern slope of that range.
Sphyropicus williamsoni, Baird
WILLIAMSON’S WOODPECKER
Picus williamsoni, Newberry, Zoöl. California and Oregon Route, 89, P. R. R. Repts. VI, 1857, pl. xxxiv, fig. 1.—Sundevall, Consp. 32. Melanerpes rubrigularis, Scl. Annals and Mag. N. H. 3d series, I, Feb. 1858, 127.—Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1858, 2, pl. cxxxi. Sphyropicus williamsoni, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 105, pl. xxxiv, f. 1.—Coues, Pr. 1866, 54.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1863, 204.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 393. Cladoscopus williamsoni, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 1863, 82. Melanerpes williamsoni, Gray, Catal. Br. Mus. 1868, 116.
Sp. Char. Rich 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 quills without any white, except on the outer primaries. Female with the chin white instead of red. Length, 9.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.70.
Hab. Rocky Mountains to the Cascade Mountains, Sierra Nevada. Localities: West Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).
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, excepting the smaller coverts, is black, banded transversely on the inner primaries with white; the sides of body behind and under tail-coverts white, with broadly V-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, with the exception of the type which had been preserved in alcohol (which sometimes extracts the red of feathers). We have seen no specimen (except young birds, marked female), in a considerable number, without red on the chin, and are inclined to think that both sexes exhibit this character. Young birds from the Rocky Mountains are very similar to the adult, but have the throat marked white, and the inner web of innermost tail-feather banded with the same color. No. 16,090, ♂ ad. (Fort Crook, California), has a single crimson feather in the middle of the forehead.
Habits. This comparatively new species of Woodpecker was first discovered by Dr. Newberry in the pine forest on the eastern border of the upper Klamath Lake. Its habits appeared to him to be very similar to those of P. harrisi and P. gairdneri, which inhabit the same region. The individual he procured was creeping up the trunk of a large yellow pine (P. brachyptera), searching for insects in the bark. Its cry was very like that of P. harrisi. Although killed by the first fire, a second discharge was required to detach it from the limb to which it clung fast.
According to Dr. Coues, it is resident and not uncommon in the Territory of Arizona, occurring exclusively among the pine-trees. It is said to range from both slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, from as far north at least as Oregon. Fort Whipple is supposed to be about its southern limit. Dr. Coues states that this species possesses the anatomical peculiarities of the S. varius, and that its habits entirely correspond. Mr. Allen found it abundant on the sides of Mount Lincoln, in Colorado Territory.
Dr. Cooper met with a straggler of this species in the valley of the Colorado, shot on the 12th of March, 1861. In September, 1863, he found them rather common near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, where he shot two. It has since been met with at Laramie Peak, and near the mouth of the Klamath River.
It was found by Mr. Ridgway on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and again on the Wahsatch Mountains; in both regions inhabiting the pine forests exclusively, and in neither place at all common. It occurred so seldom that Mr. Ridgway could learn but little concerning the peculiarities of its habits, etc. Its common note is a plaintive wailing squeal, much like that of S. varius (common to all the members of the genus), but other notes were heard which were quite peculiar.
Sphyropicus thyroideus, Baird
BROWN-HEADED WOODPECKER
Picus thyroideus, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Dec. 1851, 349 (California).—Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d ser. II, 1853, 270.—Sundevall, Consp. 32. Melanerpes thyroideus, Cassin, Ill. I, 1854, 201, pl. xxxii. Pilumnus thyroideus, Bon. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Sphyropicus thyroideus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 106—Elliot, Ill. Birds N. Am. II, pl.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1863, 204.—Gray, Cat. 52.—Elliot, B. Am. I, pl. xxxv.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 394. ? ? Picus nataliæ, Malherbe, Cab. Journ. f. Ornith. 1854, 171.
Sp. Char. About the size of P. varius. Head dark ashy-brown; general color ashy-brown; head and neck scarcely marked; middle line of belly sulphur-yellow; rump and upper coverts pure white; rest of body apparently encircled by narrow transverse and continuous bands (crossing the wings and tail) of black, the outer spaces becoming whiter behind; a large round black patch on the breast. No red on top of the head. Male with reddish chin. Length, about 9.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.10.
Hab. Cascade and Coast Ranges of California and Oregon; Sierra Nevada, Wahsatch, and Rocky Mountains. Localities: West Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).
In addition to the characters already assigned, the crown of the head is indistinctly streaked or spotted with black. The under coverts are barred with black. The tail-feathers are black, the inner and outer barred transversely with white on both webs; the shafts, however, entirely black. The quills are all spotted with white on both webs.
The jugular black patch shows more or less indication of the transverse bands, and is sometimes wanting, leaving the bands distinct. In one specimen (38,285 ♀, Laramie Peak) it is remarkably large and almost unbroken, while the black malar stripe is decidedly indicated; on the back the black bars much exceed in width the light ones, which are nearly white. The generic rictal white stripe is usually inappreciable, as also the black maxillary one, although both can be detected in some specimens.
A young bird is not appreciably different from the adult.
Habits. Dr. Cooper regards this bird as quite a rare species. He has never met with it, and doubts if it is ever found so far south as San Francisco. Mr. J. G. Bell, of New York, was the first to meet with this bird in the Lower Sierra Nevada.
Dr. Heermann procured specimens among the southern mines, near the Colorado River, where they were especially frequenting the pine-trees in search of their food. He saw none of them alight on an oak, though those trees were abundant in that locality. It has since been met with near Fort Crook, and Dr. Cooper thinks it probable they may be more common in the mountains of Eastern Oregon and in those of Central Utah.
Dr. Coues says that it is resident, but very rare, in Arizona. It frequents pine-trees by preference. Its range is said to include both slopes of the Rocky Mountains, from Oregon to the Rio Grande, and probably to Sonora.
Mr. Ridgway met with this rare Woodpecker on the Sierra Nevada and Wahsatch Mountains, where it inhabited the same woods with the S. williamsoni; it appeared to have the same manners and notes as that species, but it was so seldom met with that nothing satisfactory could be learned concerning its habits. Its conspicuously barred coloration gives it much the appearance of a Centurus, when flying.
Genus HYLOTOMUS, Baird
Dryotomus, Malherbe, Mém. Ac. Metz, 1849, 322. (Not of Swainson, 1831.)
Dryopicus, Bonap. Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital. May, 1854. (Not of Malherbe.)
Hylatomus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 107. (Type, Picus pileatus.)
Phlæotomus, Cab. & Hein. 1863. (Same type.)
Gen. Char. Bill a little longer than the head; considerably depressed, or broader than high at the base; shaped much as in Campephilus, except shorter, and without the bristly feathers directed forwards at the base of the lower jaw. Gonys about half the length of the commissure. Tarsus shorter than any toe, except the inner posterior. Outer posterior toe shorter than the outer anterior, and a little longer than the inner anterior. Inner posterior very short, not half the outer anterior; about half the inner anterior one. Tail long, graduated; the longer feathers much incurved at the tip. Wing longer than the tail, reaching to the middle of the exposed surface of tail; considerably graduated, though pointed; the fourth and fifth quills longest. Color uniform black. Head with pointed occipital crest. A stripe from nasal tufts beneath the eye and down side of neck, throat, lining of wing, and basal portion of under surface of quills, white; some species with the abdomen and sides barred black and brownish-white; others with a white scapular stripe in addition. Male with whole crown and crest and maxillary patch red; female with only the crest red.
This genus is similar in general appearance and size to Campephilus, but differs essentially in many respects; the differences being, however, mostly those which distinguish all other Woodpeckers from the species of Campephilus, which is unique in the peculiar structure of the tail-feathers, the great graduation of the tertials (sixth, instead of third or fourth, longest), and very long gonys with the flat tuft of hair like feathers at its base. The less development of the outer hind toe in Hylotomus, which is about exactly intermediate between the outer and inner anterior, the outer largest, instead of being longest, and having the outer anterior intermediate between it and the inner, the shorter bill, the gonys fully half the length of the commissure, are additional distinctive features.
Hylotomus pileatus.
1723 ♀
Of Hylotomus there are several species in tropical America, all differing, however, in transversely banded lower parts, while some have a broad white scapular stripe; in these features of coloration (but in these only, for the head pattern is always much as in the H. pileatus) they resemble closely species of Campephilus (C. guatemalensis, C. albirostris, C. malherbei, etc.,) found in the same region; one (H. scapularis, of Mexico) even has a whitish ivory-like bill. They may all be distinguished from the species of Campephilus, however, by the generic differences.
Hylotomus pileatus, Baird
BLACK WOODCOCK; LOG-COCK
Picus pileatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 1766, 173.—Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 58, pl. cx.—Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 27, pl. xxix, f. 2.—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 2.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 74; V, 533, pl. cxi.—Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 266, pl. cclvii.—Maxim. Cab. Jour. VI. 1858, 352.—Sundevall, Consp. 8. Picus (Dryotomus) pileatus, Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 304. Dryotomus pileatus, Bp. List, 1838. Dryocopus pileatus, Bonap. Consp. Av. 1850, 132. Dryopicus pileatus, Bon. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. I.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 332.—Gray, Catal. 59. Pileated Woodpecker, Pennant.—Latham. Hylotomus pileatus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 107.—Lord, Pr. R. Art. Inst. IV, 212.—Cooper & Suckley, 161.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 469 (E. Texas, but not Rio Grande).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 396. Ceophloeus pileatus, Cab. Jour. 1862, 176. (Hylotoma, preoccupied by Latreille!!) Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, II, 1863.—Samuels, 99.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 302.
Hylotomus pileatus.
Sp. Char. Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest; third intermediate between sixth and seventh. Bill blue-black; more horn-color beneath. General color of body, wings, and tail dull greenish-black. A narrow white streak from just above the eye to the occiput; a wider one from the nostril feathers (inclusive), under the eye and along the side of the head and neck; sides of the breast (concealed by the wing), axillaries, and under wing-coverts, and concealed bases of all the quills, with chin and beneath the head, white, tinged with sulphur-yellow. Entire crown from the base of the bill to a well-developed occipital crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the lower jaw, scarlet-red. A few faint white crescents on the sides of the body and on the abdomen. Longer primaries generally tipped with white. Length, about 18.00; wing, 9.50. Female without the red on the cheek, and the anterior half of that on the top of the head replaced by black.
Hab. Wooded parts of North America from Atlantic to Pacific. Localities: E. Texas (not Rio Grande!), (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 469, breeds).
Specimens of this species from Fort Liard in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and from Puget Sound region, are nearly four inches longer than those from the Southern Atlantic States, and are scarcely exceeded in size by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
Specimens from the northwest coast region (Columbia River, British Columbia, etc.) have no trace of the white spots on ends of outer primaries, always found in eastern specimens.
Habits. No member of this large family has a wider distribution than the Pileated Woodpecker, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the extremest limits of the northern forests, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It seems to be a resident everywhere but in its extreme northern localities, rather than a migratory species. There are specimens in the Smithsonian collection from Nelson River, on the north, to St. Johns River, Florida, on the south, and from Pennsylvania on the east to the Rio Grande and the Columbia on the west. Sir John Richardson (Fauna Boreali-Americana, II, p. 304) speaks of it as resident all the year in the interior of the fur countries, up to the 62d or 63d parallels, rarely appearing near Hudson’s Bay, but frequenting the gloomiest recesses of the forests that skirt the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Woodhouse, in his Report on the natural history of the expedition down the Zuñi and the Colorado Rivers, speaks of this Woodpecker as having been found abundant in the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico. Neither Dr. Gambel nor Dr. Heermann give it in their lists of the birds of California, nor does Dr. Newberry mention meeting with it in his Report of the zoölogy of his route. Dr. Suckley, however, speaks of the Log-Cock as abundant in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, Washington Territory, during summer, and Dr. Cooper also mentions it as an abundant and constant resident in the forests of the Territory. I have occasionally met with it in the wilder portions of New Hampshire and Maine, but have nowhere been so fortunate as to observe its nest or its breeding-habits. It has always seemed a very shy bird, difficult of approach, always keeping at a safe distance, and ever greeting your attempts for a nearer view with a loud, cackling cry, not unlike a derisive laugh.
According to the observations of Wilson, their eggs are deposited in the hole of a tree dug out by themselves, no other materials being used but the soft chips of rotten wood. The female lays six eggs, of a snowy whiteness, and they are said to raise two broods in a season.
Mr. Audubon states that it almost always breeds in the interior of the forest, and frequently on trees placed in deep swamps over the water, appearing to give a preference to the southern side of the tree, on which side the hole is usually found to which they retreat in the winter and during stormy weather. The hole is sometimes bored perpendicularly, but occasionally in the form of that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The usual depth is from twelve to eighteen inches, the breadth from two and a half to three, and at the bottom five or six. He believed they raise but a single brood in a season. The young follow their parents a long while, sometimes until the return of spring.
Rev. Dr. Bachman gives an interesting account of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers building a nest in an old elm-tree in a swamp, and occupying it the first year. Early the next spring two Bluebirds took possession of it, and there had young. Before they were half grown the Woodpeckers returned to the place, and, despite the cries and reiterated attacks of the Bluebirds, took out the young and carried them away to some distance. Next, the nest itself was disposed of, the hole cleaned and enlarged, and there they raised their brood. The tree was large, but so situated that Dr. Bachman could reach the nest from the branches of another. The hole was eighteen inches deep, and he could touch the bottom with his hand. The eggs, six in number, were laid on fragments of chips expressly left by the birds, and were large, white, and translucent. Before the Woodpeckers began to sit, he robbed them of their eggs to see if they would lay a second time. They waited a few days as if undecided, and then he heard the female at work again, deepening the hole and making it broader at the bottom. She soon recommenced laying, this time depositing five eggs. He suffered her to bring out her young, both birds alternately incubating, and each visiting the other at intervals, looking in at the hole to see if all were right and well there, and flying off afterwards in search of food. When the young were old enough, he took them home and endeavored to raise them. Three died, refusing all food. With two he was more successful. But even these he found untamable and destructive and troublesome pets, which he was at last glad to release.
Dr. Cooper, who observed this species in Washington Territory, discovered a pair early in April on Whitby’s Island, burrowing out a hole for their nest in a dead trunk, about thirty feet from the ground. They worked alternately, and were very watchful, keeping perfectly silent while they heard any noise near by. He found the place by noticing chips on the bushes below, and after watching silently for some time, one of them began to work, now and then protruding its bill full of chips, and, after cautiously looking round, dropping them.
According to Mr. C. S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt., the Pileated Woodpecker is very rare in Vermont, and extremely shy. It is difficult to approach one nearer than from fifteen to twenty rods, except by surprise. He adds that in only a single instance has he been able to shoot one. This fell with a broken wing. Before he could reach it, the bird commenced climbing a tree, and nearly escaped. When overtaken, it fought furiously, and wounded Mr. Paine severely in the hand, setting up at the same time a loud outcry, not unlike that of a domestic hen. He has never met with its nest, although he has several times seen the young when just able to leave it. The elder Mr. Paine states that, some fifty years previous, this species was abundant in Vermont, and not at all timid, and is of the opinion that their present shyness is all that exempts them from extermination.
Mr. Dresser found this Woodpecker resident and quite numerous in Texas near all the large rivers, where the timber is heavy. A few were seen on the Medina, and their eggs obtained there, but they were not abundant in that district. On the Colorado and Brazos Rivers these birds were very common, and Mr. Dresser found several nests in huge cottonwood-trees, but had no means of getting to them.
Mr. J. K. Lord assigns to this species a wide western range, being common both east and west of the Cascades, and on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. He met with it north as far as Fort Rupert in Vancouver Island, and south through Oregon and California. He found them at Colville during the winter. He states that they nest in May, generally in a tall dead pine-tree, at a great height.
For my first specimens of the eggs of this species I am under obligations to Dr. Cornelius Kollock, of Cheraw, S. C. They were obtained by him from excavations made in large trees at the height of about twenty-five feet from the ground, and in localities at no great distance from the inhabited parts of the country.
The eggs of this species from South Carolina and Florida are of a very brilliant crystalline whiteness, of a rounded-oval shape, and measure 1.25 inches in length by 1.02 in breadth. Northern specimens are probably larger.
Section CENTUREÆ
The United States genera of this section are very similar to each other, and may be most easily distinguished by color, as follows:—
Centurus. Back and wings banded transversely with black and white. Crown more or less red; rest of head with under parts grayish, and with red or yellow tinge on the middle of the abdomen. Rump white.
Melanerpes. Upper parts uniform black, without bands, with or without a white rump; variable beneath, but without transverse bands.
Genus CENTURUS, Swainson
Centurus, Sw. Class. Birds, II, 1837, 310. (Type, C. carolinus.)
Zebrapicus, Malh. Mém. Acad. Metz, 1849, 360. (Type, C. carolinus.)
Gen. Char. Bill about the length of the head, or a little longer; decidedly compressed, except at the extreme base. A lateral ridge starting a little below the culmen at the base of the bill, and angular for half the length of the bill, then becoming obsolete, though traceable nearly to the tip. Culmen considerably curved from the base; gonys nearly straight. Nostrils very broad, elliptical; situated about midway on the side of the mandible, near the base; partly concealed. Outer pairs of toes unequal, the anterior toe longest. Wings long, broad; third to fifth primaries equal and longest. Tail-feathers rather narrow, stiffened.
The species are all banded above transversely with black and white; the rump white. The head and under parts are brown, or grayish, the latter sometimes much the lighter. The belly with a red or yellow tinge. The under tail-coverts with V-shaped dark marks. The North American species of Centurus may be arranged as follows:—
C. carolinus. Middle of belly reddish; whole crown and nape red in male. Nape, only, red in female.
Forehead reddish; beneath soiled ashy-white; abdomen pinkish-red; crissum with sagittate marks of dusky. Wing, 5.25; tail, 3.80; bill, 1.30. Hab. Eastern Province United States … var. carolinus.
Forehead smoky-white; beneath smoky-olive, middle of abdomen carmine-red; crissum with broad transverse bars of dusky. Wing, 4.50; tail, 2.60; bill, 1.08. Hab. Central America; Venezuela … var. tricolor.129
C. aurifrons. Middle of belly yellowish; red of crown, in male, confined to an ovoid vertical patch. Nape and forehead gamboge-yellow; white of rump and upper tail-coverts immaculate. Female without any red on the crown.
Inner webs of middle tail-feathers unvariegated black. Lower parts dirty ashy-whitish, abdomen dilute gamboge-yellow. Wing, 5.20; tail, 3.60; bill, 1.50. Hab. Eastern Mexico, north to the Rio Grande … var. aurifrons.
Inner webs of middle tail-feathers spotted with white. Lower parts smoky-olive, belly bright orange-yellow. Wing, 4.70; tail, 2.80; bill, 1.16. Hab. Costa Rica … var. hoffmanni.130
C. uropygialis. Middle of the belly yellowish. Nape and forehead soft smoky grayish-brown. Female without red or yellow on head. White of rump and upper tail-coverts with transverse dusky bars. Inner webs of middle tail-feathers spotted with white. Wing, 5.30; tail, 3.70; bill, 1.35. Hab. Western Mexico, north into Colorado, region of Middle Province of United States.
PLATE LII.
1. Centurus carolinus. ♂ Pa., 868.
2. Centurus uropygialis. ♂ Ariz., 6128.
3. Centurus aurifrons. ♂ Texas, 6121.
4. Centurus carolinus. ♀ 6118.
5. Centurus uropygialis. ♀ Ariz.
6. Centurus aurifrons. ♀ Texas.
Centurus carolinus, Bonap
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
Picus carolinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 174.—Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 113, pl. vii, f. 2.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 169, pl. ccccxv.—Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 270, pl. cclxx.—Max. Cab. Jour. 1858, 418.—Sundevall, Consp. 53. Centurus carolinus, Sw. Bp. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, Av. 1850, 119.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 109.—Cab. Jour. 1862, 324.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 469 (resident in Texas).—Scl. Cat. 1862, 342.—Gray, Cat. 99.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 306. Centurus carolinensis, Sw. Birds, II, 1837, 310 (error). Picus griseus, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 52, pl. cxvi. ? Picus erythrauchen, Wagler, Syst. Avium, 1827. Picus zebra, Boddært, Tabl. pl. enl. (Gray, genera).
Sp. Char. Third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal, and longest; second, or outermost, and seventh about equal. Top of the head and nape crimson-red. Forehead whitish, strongly tinged with light red, a shade of which is also seen on the cheek, still stronger on the middle of the belly. Under parts brownish-white, with a faint wash of yellowish on the belly. Back, rump, and wing-coverts banded black and white; upper tail-covert white, with occasional blotches. Tail-feathers black; first transversely banded with white; second less so; all the rest with whitish tips. Inner feathers banded with white on the inner web; the outer web with a stripe of white along the middle. Length, 9.75; wing, about 5.00. Female with the crown ashy; forehead pale red; nape bright red.