Saskatchewan, on the 14th of May, in considerable flocks, enlivening by its
presence the groves of aspen and taceamahac, which were previously almost
untenanted. Its manners, at that period of the year, were strikingly contrasted
with those of the resident Woodpeckers; for, instead of flitting in a solitary
way from tree to tree, and assiduously boring for insects, it flew about in crowded
flocks in a restless manner, and kept up a continual chattering*. In the breeding
season it is more retired. It ranges from the sixty-first parallel of latitude to
Mexico f, from whence Mr. Swainson has received specimens.
DESCRIPTION
Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May 14, 1827.
Colour.—Forehead and crown, chin, and throat, arterial blood-red : both patches bordered
by greenish-black, which spreads out on the occiput and also on the lower part of the
neck and breast. Scapulars and wings black. Nostril feathers, a superciliary stripe, that
expands and uniteswith its fellow on the nape, a band from the rictus to the shoulder, a broad
oblique band from the spurious wing to the fourth greater covert, tips of most of the quills,
and a series of semicircular spots on both their webs, white (except on the outer webs of the
tertiaries, which are unspotted). Back also white, more or less tinged with yellow, crossed
on the tips by oval black spots : the tail coverts want the yellow tinge, and the upper ones
are blotched exteriorly with black. Tail feathers pitch-black; inner webs of the central pair
white, spotted with black; outer pair edged exteriorly with white. Belly gamboge-yellow,
blotched on the flanks with grey and blackish-brown. Bill black. Legs greenish.—R.
Form, aberrant, connecting the genus Ficus with that of Melanerpes, Sw. Bill as in the
typical examples of this sub-genus: the culmen sharply carinated, and the lateral angles or
ridges placed very close to the exterior margin. Wings lengthened and obliquely pointed;
the first or spurious quill remarkably small, being little more than three-quarters of an inch
long; the third, fourth, and fifth quills considerably longer than the rest; the two first of
these are equal, but the fifth is a little shorter; the second and sixth are nearly equal: lesser
quills with notched tips. Feet very slender; the two exterior toes, as in Melanerpes, are
equal, and in a slight degree shorter than the tarsus. Wings reaching nearly to the length of
the tail.—Is this the first form in Melanerpes, or the last in Pirns ?— Sw.
The female wants the red on the throat—A yearling, killed, in August, on the Saskatchewan,
has the top of the head liver-brown, without any vestige of the red there or on the
throat ; neither is there any trace of the black gorget which exists on the breast of the adult.
The back is blackish-brown, with roundish white spots on the tips and margins of the feathers.
* How wonderfully in these habits does Nature typify the Swallow, 1 This, in feet, i,drocopus, passing into the fissirostral group of the Piciana.—Sw. the esculent form of Dm.
fFam.illyf Wcom}m o^n to i bt o*th0 s. iidnehsa obfi ttshCea eyqeunantoer. .—TShwis., however, i, doubtful; since we know not of a single species of this