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"Wood Thrush. Upper parts, including the surface of the closed wings, tawny-brown, purest and deepest on the head, shading insensibly into olivaceous on the rump and tail. Below, pure white, faintly tinged on the breast with buff, and everywhere, rounded or subtriangular blackish spots. Inner webs and ends of quills fuscous, with a white or buffy edging toward the base. Greater under wing-coverts mostly white. Auriculars sharply streaked with dusky and white. Bill blackish-brown, with flesh-colored or yellowish base. Feet like this part of the bill." Elliot Coues, 1884

Wood Thrush

"Wood Thrush. Upper parts, including the surface of the closed wings, tawny-brown, purest and deepest…

"Dromaeognathous skull of a tinamou (Tinamus robustus); copies by Shufeldt from Huxley. Letters as before; Mxp, maxillo-palatine. The tinamous, Dromaeognathae "have a completely struthious palate"; vomer very broad, uniting in front with broad maxillo-palatine plates as in Dromaeus; behind articulating with posterior ends of palatines and anterior ends of pterygoids, both of which are thus prevented, as in all Ratitae, from any extensive connection with the rostrum; basipterygoid processes springing from body of sphenoid, not from its rostrum, articulating with pterygoids very near the posterior or outer ends of the latter; head of quadrate with a single articular facet, as in Ratitae." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Skull of a Tinamou

"Dromaeognathous skull of a tinamou (Tinamus robustus); copies by Shufeldt from Huxley. Letters as before;…

"Anthus Ludovicianus. Louisiana Pipit. American Titlark. Brown Lark. Wagtail. Bill blackish, pale at base below; feet brown. bill .50; tarsus .90." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Titlark Claw

"Anthus Ludovicianus. Louisiana Pipit. American Titlark. Brown Lark. Wagtail. Bill blackish, pale at…

"Head not crested. Wings and tail rounded, of approximately equal lengths, and about as long as the body. Bill typically parine." Elliot Coues, 1884. Head and neck are black; cheeks and ear coverts are white; male has a thick black strip going through its yellow breast; upper parts are olive; and outer tail feathers and wing bars are white

European Greater Titmouse

"Head not crested. Wings and tail rounded, of approximately equal lengths, and about as long as the…

"Entire upper parts ashy, the back usually with a slight olivaceous shade, the wings and tail rather purer and darker plumberous, the latter sometimes showing obsolete transverse bars. Sides of the head and entire under parts dull whitish, washed with chestnut-brown on the sides. A black frontlet at the base of the crest. Bill plumbeous-blackish; feet plumbeous." Elliot Coues, 1884

Tufted Titmouse

"Entire upper parts ashy, the back usually with a slight olivaceous shade, the wings and tail rather…

"a, an inch of trachea, contracted to the utmost, the rings looking like alternating half-rings; b, the same, stretched to two inches, the rings evidently complete, with intervening membrane." Elliot Coues, 1884

Bird Trachea

"a, an inch of trachea, contracted to the utmost, the rings looking like alternating half-rings; b,…

"Bifurcation of trachea; aba, last entire tracheal ring." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Trachea of a Rook

"Bifurcation of trachea; aba, last entire tracheal ring." Elliot Coues, 1884

"Last entire tracheal ring, viewed from below, crossed by the pessulus." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Trachea of a Rook

"Last entire tracheal ring, viewed from below, crossed by the pessulus." Elliot Coues, 1884

"Bifurcation of trachea, and bronchi, viewed from below; a, pessulus, the bolt-bar, or "bone of divarication"; b, b, next succeeding tracheal half-rings.Elliot Coues, 1884

The Trachea of a Rook

"Bifurcation of trachea, and bronchi, viewed from below; a, pessulus, the bolt-bar, or "bone of divarication";…

"1, 2, left, two tracheal rings, separate. b; 1, 2, right hand, the same put together." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Tracheal Rings of a Bird

"1, 2, left, two tracheal rings, separate. b; 1, 2, right hand, the same put together." Elliot Coues,…

"Trogon ambiguus. Copper-tailed Trogon. Metallic golden-green; face and sides of head black; below from the breast carmine; a white collar on the throat; middle tail-feathers coppery-green, the outer white, finely variegated with black; quills edged with white." Elliot Coues, 1884

Copper-Tailed Trogon

"Trogon ambiguus. Copper-tailed Trogon. Metallic golden-green; face and sides of head black; below from…

"Meleagris gallipavo. Turkey. Upper tail-coverts chestnut, with paler or whitish tips; tail-feathers tipped with brownish-yellow or whitish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Turkey

"Meleagris gallipavo. Turkey. Upper tail-coverts chestnut, with paler or whitish tips; tail-feathers…

"Strepsilas interpres. Turnstone. Brant Bird. Calico-back. Pied above with black, white, brown, and chestnut-red; below, snowy, with jet breast. Top of head streaked with black and white. Forehead, cheeks, side of head and back of neck, white, with a bar of black coming up from the side of neck to below eye, then coming forward and meeting or tending to meet its fellow over base of bill, enclosing or nearly enclosing a white loral, and another black prolongation on side of neck; lower eye-lid white or not. Lower hind neck, interscapulars and scapulars, pied with black and chestnut; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, snowy-white, with a large central blackish field on the latter. Tail white, with broad subterminal blackish field, narrowing on the outer feathers and incomplete, widening to usually cut off white tips of central feathers. Wing-coverts and long inner secondaries pied like the scapulars with black and chestnut, the greater coverts broadly white-tipped or mostly white, the short inner secondaries entirely white, the rest acquiring dusky on their ends to increasing extent, with result of a broad oblique white wing-bar. Primaries blackish, the longer ones with large white fields on inner webs, the shorter ones also definitely white on outer webs for a space, the shafts white on the outer webs for a space, the shafts white unless at end; primary coverts white-tipped. Under parts, under wing-coverts, snowy-white, the breast and jugulum jet-black, enclosing a white throat-patch, and sending limbs on sides of head and neck as above said. Bill black; iris black; feet orange." Elliot Coues, 1884

Turnstone

"Strepsilas interpres. Turnstone. Brant Bird. Calico-back. Pied above with black, white, brown, and…

"Fig. 31. - Ulna of Colaptes mexicanus, showing points of attachment of the secondaries. (Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A.)." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red Shafted Woodpecker Ulna

"Fig. 31. - Ulna of Colaptes mexicanus, showing points of attachment of the secondaries. (Dr. R. W.…

"Similar to V. gilvus, but smaller; colors paler; bill more depressed; upper mandible almost black; 2d quill much shorter than 6th" Elliot Coues, 1884

Warbling Vireo

"Similar to V. gilvus, but smaller; colors paler; bill more depressed; upper mandible almost black;…

"The first change in the parent-cell is that by which it becomes broken up into a mass of cells, each of which is just like itself. This process is called segmentation of the vitellus; each one of the numerous resulting cells is called a cleavage-cell. The nucleus of the parent-cell divides into two; each attracts its half of the yelk; the halves furrow apart and there are now two cleavage cells in place of the one parent-cell a furrow at right angles to the first, and redivision of the nuclei; results in four cleavage-cells. Radiating furrows intermediate to the first two bisect the four cells, and would render eight cells, were not these simultaneously doubled by a circular furrow which cleaves each, with the result of sixteen cleavage-cells. So the subdivision goes on until the parent-cell becomes a mass of cells. This particular kind of cleavage, by radiating and concentric furrowing, is called discoidal, and the resulting heap of little cells assumes the figure of a thin, flat, circular disc. Segmentation of the vitellus, in whatever manner it may go on, results in a mulberry-like mass of cleavage-cells; and the original cytula has become what is called a morula. This process is shown closely here." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Segmentation of the Vitellus

"The first change in the parent-cell is that by which it becomes broken up into a mass of cells, each…

"Catharista atrata. Black Vulture. Carrion Crow. Adult: Entire plumage, including skin of head, and bill, blackish; shafts of the of the primaries white; bases of the primaries paling to gray or whitish. Tip of bill and feet grayish-yellow; iris brown; claws black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black Vulture

"Catharista atrata. Black Vulture. Carrion Crow. Adult: Entire plumage, including skin of head, and…

A group of vultures, three on the ground, eat their prey. Several vultures are approaching those already on the ground.

Vultures

A group of vultures, three on the ground, eat their prey. Several vultures are approaching those already…

A (Motacilla alba) or White Wagtail (upper) and a (Motacilla flava) Yellow Wagtail (lower) sitting on the rocks in a grassy area. "The White Wagtail - Head black, with a broad mask of white across forehead and along side; the black extending on the fore-breast; wings blackish, with much white edging and tipping of the quills and greater coverts; tail black, the two lateral feathers on each side mostly white; back and sides ashy; lower parts mostly white; bill and feet black. In winter black more restricted, in part replaced by gray. The Yellow Wagtail has characters of the Motacilla alba; tail shorter, not exceeding the wing length; hind claw lengthened and straightish; hind toe and claw nearly as long as the tarsus. Coloration chiefly yellow and greenish." Elliot Coues, 1884

A White and Yellow Wagtail Sitting on the Rocks

A (Motacilla alba) or White Wagtail (upper) and a (Motacilla flava) Yellow Wagtail (lower) sitting on…

"The Yellow Wagtail or Motilla flava has characters of the Motacilla alva; tail shorter, not exceeding the wing length; hind claw lengthened and straightish; hind toe and claw nearly as long as the tarsus. Coloration chiefly yellow and greenish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Yellow Wagtail Head and Foot

"The Yellow Wagtail or Motilla flava has characters of the Motacilla alva; tail shorter, not exceeding…

"Myiodioctes pussies. Blacked-capped Fly-catching Warbler. Upper parts, including exposed edging of the wings and tail, bright yellowish-olive; under parts, including front and sides of the head and superciliary line, rich yellow, shaded with olive on the sides. A squarish, glossy blue-black patch on the crown. Wings and tail plain fuscous, with greenish edging, unmarked with with other color. Upper mandible dark; under mandible and feet light." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black-capped Fly-catching Warbler

"Myiodioctes pussies. Blacked-capped Fly-catching Warbler. Upper parts, including exposed edging of…

"Black-poll Warbler or Dendroica striata. Back, rump, tail-coverts grayish-olive, heavily streaked with black; whole crown pure glossy black. Below, pure white; a double series of black streaks starts from the extreme chin, and diverges to pass one on each side to the tail, the streaks being confluent anteriorly, discrete posteriorly. Side of the head above the chain of streaks pure white, including lower eyelid. Wings dusky, the primaries with much greenish edging, the inner secondaries with whitish edging, the greater median coverts tipped with white, forming two crossbars. Tail like the wings, with rather small white spots at the ends of the inner webs of two or three outer feathers. Upper mandible brownish-black; lower mandible with the feet flesh-colored or yellowish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black -poll Warbler

"Black-poll Warbler or Dendroica striata. Back, rump, tail-coverts grayish-olive, heavily streaked with…

"Black-throated Gray Warbler or Dendroica nigrescens. Above, bluish-ash, the interscapular region, and usually also the upper-tail coverts, streaked with black. Entire head, with chin and throat, black; a sharply defined yellow spot before the eye, a broad white stripe behind the eye, and a long white maxillary stripe widening behind from the corner of the bill of the side of the neck. Wings fuscous, with much whitish edging, and crossed with two broad white bars on the ends of the greater and median coverts. Tail like the wings, the three lateral feathers mostly white, except on the outer webs, the fourth with a white blotch. Bill and feet black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black-throated Gray Warbler

"Black-throated Gray Warbler or Dendroica nigrescens. Above, bluish-ash, the interscapular region, and…

"Blue Golden-Winged Warbler or Helminthophila chrysoptera. Upper parts slaty-blue, or or fine bluish-gray; crown, and large wing-patch formed by confluent wing-bars, rich yellow; a broad stripe on side of head and patch on chin, throat and fore-breast, black, the eye-stripe bordered above and below with white; under parts generally, excepting the black breast-plate, white, often tinted with yellowish, and shaded on the sides with ashy. Exposed surfaces of wings and tail like upper parts; great white blotches on three lateral tail-feathers; bill black; feet dark." Elliot Coues, 1884

Blue Golden-Winged Warbler

"Blue Golden-Winged Warbler or Helminthophila chrysoptera. Upper parts slaty-blue, or or fine bluish-gray;…

"Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica. Back streaked with black and pale yellow (sometimes ashy or whitish); whole crown pure yellow, immediately bordered with white, then enclosed with black; sides of head and neck and whole under parts pure white, former with an irregular black crescent before the eye, one horn extending backward over the eye to border the yellow crown and be dissipated on the sides of the nape, the other reaching downward and backward to connect with a chain of pure chestnut streaks that run the whole length of the body, the under eyelid and auriculars being left white; wing-bands generally fused into one large patch, and, like the edging of the inner secondaries, much tinged with yellow; tail-spots white, as usual; bill blackish, feet brownish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Chestnut-sided Warbler

"Chestnut-sided Warbler, Dendroica pensylvanica. Back streaked with black and pale yellow (sometimes…

"Myiodioctes mitratus. Hooded Fly-catching Warbler. Hooded Warbler. Clear yellow-olive above; below, rich yellow, shaded with olive along the sides; whole head and neck pure black, enclosing a broad golden mask across forehead and through eyes; wings unmarked, glossed with olive; tail with large white blotches on the two or three outer pairs of feathers, as in Dendroica; bill black; feet flesh-colored." Elliot Coues, 1884

Hooded Warbler

"Myiodioctes mitratus. Hooded Fly-catching Warbler. Hooded Warbler. Clear yellow-olive above; below,…

"Kentucky Warbler. Oporornis formosus. Clear olive-green; entire under parts bright yellow, olive-shaded along sides; crown black, separated by a rich yellow superciliary line(which curls around the eye behind) from a broad black bar running form bill below eye thence down the side of the neck; wings and tail unmarked, glossed with olive; feet flesh-colored." Elliot Coues, 1884

Kentucky Warbler

"Kentucky Warbler. Oporornis formosus. Clear olive-green; entire under parts bright yellow, olive-shaded…

"Black -and-Yellow Warbler. Magnolia Warbler. Back black, usually quite pure and uninterrupted in the spring, more or less mixed with olive in the winter; rump yellow; upper tail-coverts black , often skirted with olive and ashy. Whole crown of head clear ash; sides of head black, including a very narrow frontlet; the eyelids and a stripe behind the eye, between the ash and black, white. Entire under parts rich yellow, excepting the white crissum, heavily streaked with black across the breast and along the sides, the streaks on the breast so thick as to form a nearly continuous black border to the immaculate yellow throat. Wings fuscous, with lining, white edging of the inner webs of all the quills, of the outer webs of the inner secondaries, and with a large white patch formed by the tips of the median coverts and tips of the median coverts and tips and outer edges of the coverts. Tail blackish, with square white spots on the middle of the inner webs of al the feathers excepting the middle pair. Bill blackish; feet dark."

Magnolia Warbler

"Black -and-Yellow Warbler. Magnolia Warbler. Back black, usually quite pure and uninterrupted in the…

"Worm-Eating Warbler or Helmitheros vermivorus. Olive, below buffy, paler or whitish on the belly; head buff, with four black stripes, two along sides of crown from bill to nape, one along each side of head through the eye; wings and tail olivaceous, unmarked; bill and feet pale, bill acute, unbristled, unnotched, at least 0.50." Elliot Coues, 1884

Worm-Eating Warbler

"Worm-Eating Warbler or Helmitheros vermivorus. Olive, below buffy, paler or whitish on the belly; head…

"Yellow-rumped Warbler or Dendroica coronata. Yellow-crowned Warbler. Myrtle Bird. Slaty-blue, streaked with black; below, white, breast and sides mostly black, belly, and especially throat, pure white, immaculate; rump, central crown-patch, an sides of breast, sharply yellow, there being thus four definite yellow places; sides of head black; eyelids and superciliary line white; ordinary white wing-bars and tail-blotches; bill and feet black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Yellow-rumped Warbler

"Yellow-rumped Warbler or Dendroica coronata. Yellow-crowned Warbler. Myrtle Bird. Slaty-blue, streaked…

"Ampelis garrulus. Bohemian Waxwing. General color brownish-ash, shading insensibly from the clear ash of the tail and its upper coverts and rump into a reddish-tinged ash anteriorly, this peculiar tint heightening on the head, especially on the forehead and sides of the head, into orange-brown. A narrow frontal line, and bordered with white. No yellowish on belly. Under tail-coverts orange-brown, or chestnut. Tail ash, deepening to blackish-ash toward the end broadly tipped with rich yellow. Wings ashy-blackish; primaries tipped (chiefly on the outer webs) with sharp spaces of yellow, or white, or both; secondaries with white spaces at the ends of the outer webs, the shafts usually ending with enlarged, horny, red appendages. Primary coverts tipped with white. Bill blackish-plumbeous, often paler at the base below; feet black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Bohemian Waxwing

"Ampelis garrulus. Bohemian Waxwing. General color brownish-ash, shading insensibly from the clear ash…

"Ampelis cedrorum. Cedar Waxwing. Carolina Waxwing. Cedar-bird. Cherry Bird. General color shading from clear pure ash on the upper tail-coverts and rump through olivaceous-cinnamon into a richer and somewhat purplish-cinnamon on the foreparts and head. On the under parts, the color shades through yellowish on the belly into white on the under tail-coverts. There is no demarcation of color whatever, and the tints are scarcely susceptible of adequate description. Frontlet, lores, and stripe through the eye, velvety-black; chin the same, soon shading into the color of the breast. A sharp white line on the side of the under jaw; a narrower one bordering the black frontlet and lores; lower eyelid white. quills of the wings slate-gray, blackening at the ends, paler along the edges of the inner webs; without white or yellow markings, as a rule; inner quills tipped with red horny appendages. Tail-feathers like the primaries, but tipped with yellow, and sometimes also showing red horny appendages. Bill plumbeous-black, sometimes paler at base; feet black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Cedar Waxwing

"Ampelis cedrorum. Cedar Waxwing. Carolina Waxwing. Cedar-bird. Cherry Bird. General color shading from…

Wheatear male has a bluish-gray back, black patch on ear, a white rump and sides of tail, and black wings. Female is buffer with a brown back.

Wheatear

Wheatear male has a bluish-gray back, black patch on ear, a white rump and sides of tail, and black…

"Antrostomus vociferus. Whippoorwill. Night-jar. Upper parts variegated with gray, black, whitish, and tawny; prevailing tone gray; black streaks sharp on the head and back, the colors elsewhere delicately marbled, including the four median tail-feathers; wings and their coverts with bars of rufous spots; lateral tail-feathers black, with large white (male) or small tawny (female) terminal spaces; a white (male) or tawny (female) throat-bar. Adult male: Assuming stone-gray as the ground-color of the upper parts: Crown with a purplish cast, heavily dashed lengthwise with black; back darker, with smaller streaks; tail beautifully marbled with slate-gray and black tending crosswise on the 4 middle feathers; scapulars with bold black centre-fields set in frosty marbling; hind neck with white specks, as if continued around from the white throat-bar. Primaries black, with a little marbling at their ends, fully broken-barred with tawny-reddish; no white spaces. Three lateral tail-feathers mostly black, with pure white terminal spaces 1-2 inches long. Under parts quite blackish, on the breast powdered over with hoary-gray, more posteriorly marbled with gray and tawny, tending crosswise. Lores and ear-coverts dark brown. It is only in perfect plumage that the colors are as slaty and frosty as described; ordinarily more brown and ochrey." Elliot Coues, 1884

Large Whippoorwill

"Antrostomus vociferus. Whippoorwill. Night-jar. Upper parts variegated with gray, black, whitish, and…

"Antrostomus vociferus. Whippoorwill. Night-jar. Upper parts variegated with gray, black, whitish, and tawny; prevailing tone gray; black streaks sharp on the head and back, the colors elsewhere delicately marbled, including the four median tail-feathers; wings and their coverts with bars of rufous spots; lateral tail-feathers black, with large white (male) or small tawny (female) terminal spaces; a white (male) or tawny (female) throat-bar. Adult male: Assuming stone-gray as the ground-color of the upper parts: Crown with a purplish cast, heavily dashed lengthwise with black; back darker, with smaller streaks; tail beautifully marbled with slate-gray and black tending crosswise on the 4 middle feathers; scapulars with bold black centre-fields set in frosty marbling; hind neck with white specks, as if continued around from the white throat-bar. Primaries black, with a little marbling at their ends, fully broken-barred with tawny-reddish; no white spaces. Three lateral tail-feathers mostly black, with pure white terminal spaces 1-2 inches long. Under parts quite blackish, on the breast powdered over with hoary-gray, more posteriorly marbled with gray and tawny, tending crosswise. Lores and ear-coverts dark brown. It is only in perfect plumage that the colors are as slaty and frosty as described; ordinarily more brown and ochrey." Elliot Coues, 1884

Small Whippoorwill

"Antrostomus vociferus. Whippoorwill. Night-jar. Upper parts variegated with gray, black, whitish, and…

"Mareca americana. American Wigeon. Bald-pate. Bill grayish-blue, with black tip and extreme base; feet similar, duller, with dusky webs and claws; iris brown. Top of head white, or nearly so; sides the same, or more buffy, speckled with dusky-green, purer green forming a broad patch from and below eye to hind head; chin dusky. Fore neck and breast light brownish-red, or very pale purplish-cinnamon, each feather with paler grayish edge; along the sides of the body the same, finely waved with dusky; the breast and belly pure white, the crissum abruptly black. Lower hind neck and fore back and scapulars finely waved with the same reddish color and with dusky; lower back and rump similarly waved with dusky and whitish. Lesser wing-coverts plain gray; middle and greater coverts pure white, forming a large area, the greater black-tipped, forming the fore border of the speculum, which is glossy green, bordered behind by velvety black, internally by the black and white stripes on the inner secondaries. Tail brownish-gray, the lateral upper coverts black; axillary feathers white. Only old drakes have the crown immaculate white, the chin dusky, the auricular definitely green; generally the whole head and upper neck are pale brownish-yellow or reddish-white, speckled with greenish-Dusky." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Wigeon

"Mareca americana. American Wigeon. Bald-pate. Bill grayish-blue, with black tip and extreme base; feet…

The semipalmated (half-webbed) bases of toes on the foot of a Willet. "... basal webs generally run out to the end of the first, or along part of the second, phalanx of the toes; usually farther between the outer and middle that between the middle and inner toes." Elliot Coues, 1884

Half-Webbed Foot of a Willet

The semipalmated (half-webbed) bases of toes on the foot of a Willet. "... basal webs generally run…

"Symphemia semipalmata. Semipalmated Tattler. Willet. Adult in summer: Upper parts ashy, confoundedly speckled to greater or less extent with blackish; this sometimes giving the prevailing tone, but in lighter colored cases the blackish restricted to an irregular central field on each feather, throwing out angular processes and tending to become traverse bars. When such dark fields prevail, the upper parts become quite blackish, speckled with ashy-white, like Totanus melanoleucus, for example. Furthermore, there is often a slight rufescence. Under parts white, sometimes with a rufous or brownish tinge, the jugulum and breast spotted and streaked, the sides barred or arrow-headed, with brownish-black. Axillars and lining of wing, edge of wing and primary coverts, sooty-blackish. Primaries blackish, with a great space white at base, partly overlaid and concealed by the primary coverts, partly showing conspicuously as a speculum; shafts white along this space. Most secondaries white most upper tail-coverts white, the shorter ones dark like rump, the longer ones barred like tail. Tail ashy, incompletely barred with blackish; lateral feathers pale, or marbled with white. Bill dark; legs bluish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Willet Head

"Symphemia semipalmata. Semipalmated Tattler. Willet. Adult in summer: Upper parts ashy, confoundedly…

"Symphemia semipalmata. Semipalmated Tattler. Willet. Adult in summer: Upper parts ashy, confoundedly speckled to greater or less extent with blackish; this sometimes giving the prevailing tone, but in lighter colored cases the blackish restricted to an irregular central field on each feather, throwing out angular processes and tending to become traverse bars. When such dark fields prevail, the upper parts become quite blackish, speckled with ashy-white, like Totanus melanoleucus, for example. Furthermore, there is often a slight rufescence. Under parts white, sometimes with a rufous or brownish tinge, the jugulum and breast spotted and streaked, the sides barred or arrow-headed, with brownish-black. Axillars and lining of wing, edge of wing and primary coverts, sooty-blackish. Primaries blackish, with a great space white at base, partly overlaid and concealed by the primary coverts, partly showing conspicuously as a speculum; shafts white along this space. Most secondaries white most upper tail-coverts white, the shorter ones dark like rump, the longer ones barred like tail. Tail ashy, incompletely barred with blackish; lateral feathers pale, or marbled with white. Bill dark; legs bluish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Willets

"Symphemia semipalmata. Semipalmated Tattler. Willet. Adult in summer: Upper parts ashy, confoundedly…

"Philohela. American Woodcock. First three primaries emarginate, attenuate and falcate, abruptly shorter and narrower than the 4th. Wings short and rounded; when folded, the primaries hidden by the coverts and inner quills. Legs short; tibiae feathered to the joint; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw, scutellate before and behind; toes long and slender, cleft to the base Bill much longer than head, perfectly straight, stout at base, where the ridge rises high, knobbed at end of upper mandible, very deeply grooved nearly all its length, the culmen and line of gonys also furrowed toward end; very soft and sensitive; gape very short and narrow. Head large; neck short; ear under the eye, which is very full, set in back upper corner of the head. Sexes alike; Female largest." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Woodcock Head

"Philohela. American Woodcock. First three primaries emarginate, attenuate and falcate, abruptly shorter…

"Philohela minor. Woodcock. Bog-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, gray, and russet; below, pale warm brown of variable shade, not barred. A dark stripe from bill to eye. Crown from opposite eye with black and light bars; along the inner edges of the wings a bluish-ashy stripe; lining of wings rust-brown; quills plain fuscous; tail black, spotted, and tipped; bill brownish flesh-color, dusky at end; feet pale reddish flesh-color." Elliot Coues, 1884

American Woodcock

"Philohela minor. Woodcock. Bog-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, gray,…

"Philohela minor. Woodcock. Bog-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, gray, and russet; below, pale warm brown of variable shade, not barred. A dark stripe from bill to eye. Crown from opposite eye with black and light bars; along the inner edges of the wings a bluish-ashy stripe; lining of wings rust-brown; quills plain fuscous; tail black, spotted, and tipped; bill brownish flesh-color, dusky at end; feet pale reddish flesh-color." Elliot Coues, 1884

Probing American Woodcock

"Philohela minor. Woodcock. Bog-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, gray,…

"Asyndesmus torquatus. Lewis' Woodpecker. Lared Woodpecker. Adult: Upper parts, including wings and tail, flanks and crissum, green-black with intense bronzy lustre, especially on the back - this iridescence like that of Quiscalus aneus almost. Face dark crimson, in a patch of velvety feathers around bill and eyes. A narrow distant collar around back of neck, and breast, hoary bluish-gray, gradually brightening behind on the under parts to intense rose-red or lake, delicately pencilled in hair lines with the hoary-gray. No white on wings or tail, their under surfaces simply black. Bill blackish; feet greenish-plumbeous. Iris brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Lewis' Woodpecker Head

"Asyndesmus torquatus. Lewis' Woodpecker. Lared Woodpecker. Adult: Upper parts, including wings and…

"Saurognathous skull of a nesting Picus minor. x4 diameters, after Parker. Px premaxillary: dpx, its dentary process; ppx, palatal process; sn, septo-nasal; pa, palatine; pmx, peculiar palatal plate of maxillary of a woodpecker; nf, nasal turbinal; mx, maxillary; ipa, interpalatal spur of palatine bone; mxp, rudimentary maxillo-palatine, scarcely reaching palatine; smx, septo-maxillary, in several pieces; v, right vomer, its fellow opposite; pe, lower border of perpendicular plate of ethmoid, between vomers; epa, ethmoidal (inner) plate of palatine; mpa, medio-palatine; pg pterygoid; i, foramen for internal carotid; 8 for vagus nerve; 9, for hypo-glossal nerve." Elliot Coues, 1884

Woodpecker Skull

"Saurognathous skull of a nesting Picus minor. x4 diameters, after Parker. Px premaxillary: dpx, its…

"Top view of skull of Cloaptes, (flickers) showing thyrohyals running along the skull and into right nostril to end of the bill." Elliot Coues, 1884

Top View of a Woodpecker Skull

"Top view of skull of Cloaptes, (flickers) showing thyrohyals running along the skull and into right…

"Sphyropicus thyroides. Brown-headed Woodpecker. Black-breasted Woodpecker. Red-throated Woodpecker. Williamson's Woodpecker. Adult: Glossy black, including all the tail-feathers. Belly gamboge yellow. A narrow scarlet patch on the throat. Upper tail-coverts, a broad oblique bar on the wing-coverts, a post-ocular stripe, a stripe from nostrils below eye and ear, and small, in part paired, spots on the quills, white. Lining of wings, sides of body, flanks and crissum varied with white, leaving the black in bars and cordate spots. Bill slate-color; feet greenish-gray; iris reddish-brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Brown-headed Woodpecker

"Sphyropicus thyroides. Brown-headed Woodpecker. Black-breasted Woodpecker. Red-throated Woodpecker.…

"Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi. Californian Woodpecker. Glossy blue-black; rump, bases of all the quills, edge of the wing, and under parts from the breast, white; sides with sparse black streaks; forehead squarely white, continuous with a stripe down in front of hte eyes and thence broadly encircling the throat, there becoming yellowish; this cuts off the black around base of bill and on the chin completely; crown in the male crimson from the white front, in the female separated from the white by a black interval; frequently a few red feathers in the black breast-patch, which is not sharply defined behind, but changes by streaks into the white of the belly. Bill black; eyes white, often rosy, creamy, yellowish, milky, bluish, or brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Californian Woodpecker

"Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi. Californian Woodpecker. Glossy blue-black; rump, bases of all the quills,…

"Picus pubescens. Downy Woodpecker. Usually 6-7 long; outer tail-feathers barred with black and white. Exactly like P. villosus, except in these respects. Length 6.00-7.00; entent 11.00-12.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail under 3.00; bill about .66; whole foot 1.25." Elliot Coues, 1884

Downy Woodpecker

"Picus pubescens. Downy Woodpecker. Usually 6-7 long; outer tail-feathers barred with black and white.…

"Picus major. European Spotted Woodpecker. Bill more or less nearly equal to head in length, stout, straight, truncate at tip, bevelled toward end, with sharp culmen and distinct lateral ridges on upper mandible; at base rather broader than high, with large nasal tufts hiding the nostrils; culmen, commissure and gonys straight or nearly so. Feet with the outer posterior longer than outer anterior toe; inner anterior intermediate between these. Wing long, pointed by the 4th, 3d, and 5th quills; 2d decidedly shorter (shorter than 7th, except in P. borealis); 1st fairly spurious. Species of medium and small size. All black and white (one brown-backed), the back striped or barred, the wings with numerous small round white spots on the quills; Male with red on the head." Elliot Coues, 1884

European Spotted Woodpecker

"Picus major. European Spotted Woodpecker. Bill more or less nearly equal to head in length, stout,…

"Picus villosus. Hairy Woodpecker. Spotted and lengthwise streaked, but not banded. Usually 9-10 long; outer tail-feathers wholly white. Back black, with a long white stripe down the middle. Quills and wing-coverts with a profusion of white spots; usually 6-7 pairs on the primaries, several on all the secondaries, and one or more on each of the coverts. Four middle tail-feathers black; next pair black and white; next two pairs white, as stated. Under parts white. Crown and sides of head black, with a white stripe over and behind the eye; another from the nasal feathers running below the eye to spread on the side of the neck; a scarlet nuchal band in the male, sometimes broken in two, wanting in the female. Young with the crown mostly red or bronzy, or even yellowish." Elliot Coues, 1884

Hairy Woodpecker

"Picus villosus. Hairy Woodpecker. Spotted and lengthwise streaked, but not banded. Usually 9-10 long;…

"Campephilus principalis. Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Glossy blue-black; a stripe down side of neck, one at base of bill, the scapulars, under wing-coverts, end of secondaries and of inner primaries, the bill and nasal feathers white; feet grayish-blue; iris yellow. A long pointed crest, in the male scarlet faced with black, in the female black." Elliot Coues, 1884

Ivory-billed Woodpecker

"Campephilus principalis. Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Glossy blue-black; a stripe down side of neck, one…

"Asyndesmus torquatus. Lewis' Woodpecker. Lared Woodpecker. Adult: Upper parts, including wings and tail, flanks and crissum, green-black with intense bronzy lustre, especially on the back - this iridescence like that of Quiscalus aneus almost. Face dark crimson, in a patch of velvety feathers around bill and eyes. A narrow distant collar around back of neck, and breast, hoary bluish-gray, gradually brightening behind on the under parts to intense rose-red or lake, delicately pencilled in hair lines with the hoary-gray. No white on wings or tail, their under surfaces simply black. Bill blackish; feet greenish-plumbeous. Iris brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Lewis' Woodpecker

"Asyndesmus torquatus. Lewis' Woodpecker. Lared Woodpecker. Adult: Upper parts, including wings and…

"Picus scalaris nutalli. Nuttall's Woodpecker. Similar; rather larger' more white, this prevailing on the back over the black bars; nape chiefly white; nasal tufts white; lateral tail-feathers, especially, sparsely or imperfectly barred. The Californian coast race, differing decidedly in some respects, and constantly; but connected with general series of ladder-backs. Barring restricted to the back proper, the hind neck being black, succeeded anteriorly by a white space adjoining the red, wanting in scalaris, where red joins black. Red chiefly confined to the occiput, the rest of the crown black, spotted with white. Lateral tail-feathers white, not barred throughout, having not 1-3 black bars, all beyond their middles, all but the terminal one of these broken. White postocular stripe running into the white nuchal area, but cut off from the white of the shoulders. White maxillary stripe enclosed in black as in scalaris, but this black continuous with the cervical black patch, which is not the case in scalaris. No Smoky-brown state of the under parts observed." Elliot Coues, 1884

Nuttall's Woodpecker

"Picus scalaris nutalli. Nuttall's Woodpecker. Similar; rather larger' more white, this prevailing on…

"Centurus carolinus. Red-bellied Woodpecker. Whole crown and nape scarlet in the male; nape only so in the female. Sides of head, and under parts, grayish-white, usually with a yellow shade, reddening on the belly; tail black, one or two outer feathers white-barred; inner web of central feathers white with black spots, outer web of the same black with a white space next the shaft for most of its length; white predominating on the rump. Bill and feet dusky plumbeous. Iris red." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-bellied Woodpecker

"Centurus carolinus. Red-bellied Woodpecker. Whole crown and nape scarlet in the male; nape only so…

"Picus borealis. Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Body spotted and crosswise banded, but not streaked. Head black on top, with a large silky white auricular patch embracing the eye and extending on the side of the neck, bordered above in the male by a scarlet stripe not meeting its fellow on the nape; nasal feathers and those on the side of the jay white; black of the crown connected across the lores with a black stripe running from the corner of the bill down the side of the breast in black spots continued less thickly along the whole side and on the crissum; under parts otherwise soiled white. Central tail-feathers black; others white, black-barred. Back and wings barred with black and white, the larger quills and many coverts with the white bars resolved into paired spots. Female lacking the red cockade. A peculiar isolated species; wings longer and more pointed than usual in this genus." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

"Picus borealis. Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Body spotted and crosswise banded, but not streaked. Head…

"Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Red-headed Woodpecker. Tricolor. Adult: Beautifully tricolor with "the red, white, and blue." Back, wings and tail glossy blue-black; secondaries, upper tail-coverts, under wing-coverts, under parts from the breast, and ends of some outer tail-feathers, white. Whole head, neck and fore breast crimson, usually black-bordered where adjoining the white. The white of hte wings and rump is pure; that of belly usually tinged with ochraceous or reddish; the white quills have black shafts. The red feathers are stiffish and somewhat bristly in their colored portions. The gloss is sometimes green instead of blue. Bill and feet dusky horn-color. Iris brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-headed Woodpecker

"Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Red-headed Woodpecker. Tricolor. Adult: Beautifully tricolor with "the…

"Sphyropicus thyroides. Brown-headed Woodpecker. Black-breasted Woodpecker. Red-throated Woodpecker. Williamson's Woodpecker. Adult: Glossy black, including all the tail-feathers. Belly gamboge yellow. A narrow scarlet patch on the throat. Upper tail-coverts, a broad oblique bar on the wing-coverts, a post-ocular stripe, a stripe from nostrils below eye and ear, and small, in part paired, spots on the quills, white. Lining of wings, sides of body, flanks and crissum varied with white, leaving the black in bars and cordate spots. Bill slate-color; feet greenish-gray; iris reddish-brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Red-headed Woodpecker

"Sphyropicus thyroides. Brown-headed Woodpecker. Black-breasted Woodpecker. Red-throated Woodpecker.…

"Sphyropicus varius. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Male: Crown crimson, bordered all around with black; chin, and breast black, enclosing a large crimson patch on the former (in the male; in the female this patch white); sides of head with a white line starting from the nasal feathers and dividing the black of the throat from a trans-ocular black stripe, this separated from the black of the crown by a white post-ocular stripe; all these stripes frequently yellowish. Under parts dingy yellow, brownish and and with sagittate dusky marks on the sides. Back variegated with black and yellowish. Wings black with a large oblique white bar on the coverts; the quills with numerous paired white spots on the edges of both webs. Tail black, most of the feathers white-edged, the inner webs of the middle pair, and the upper coverts, mostly white. Bill brownish; feet greenish-plumbeous; iris brown." Elliot Coues, 1884

Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

"Sphyropicus varius. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Male: Crown crimson, bordered all around with black;…

"Picoïdes. Three-toed Woodpeckers. Three-toed: the hallux (1st toe) absent, the 4th toe reversed as usual in the family. Bill as in Picus proper, about as long as the head, stout, straight, with bevelled end and lateral ridges, and nasal tufts hiding the nostrils; very broad and much depressed at base, with the lateral ridges very low down, in most of their length close to and parallel with commissure; nostrils very near commissure; gonys about as long as from nostrils to end of bill. Wings very pointed; 1st quill spurious; 2d between 6th and 7th in length. Crown with a square yellow patch in the male; sides of head striped, of body barred, with black and white; under parts otherwise white; quills but not coverts with white spots; tail-feathers unbarred, the outer white, the central black. All the species of this genus are unquestionably modified derivatives of one circumpolar stock; the American seem to have become completely differentiated from the Asiatic and European, and further divergence seems to have perfectly separated arcticus from americanus; but dorsalis and americanus are still linked together. Elliot Coues, 1884

Three-toed Woodpeckers

"Picoïdes. Three-toed Woodpeckers. Three-toed: the hallux (1st toe) absent, the 4th toe reversed…

"Carolina Wren. Upper parts uniform reddish-brown, brightest on the rump, where are concealed whitish spots; a long whitish superciliary line, usually bordered with dusky streaks; upper surfaces of wings and tail like back, barred with dusky, the outer edges of the primaries and lateral tail-feathers showing whitish spots. Below, rusty or muddy whitish, clearest anteriorly, deepening behind, the under tail-coverts reddish-brown barred with blackish. Wing-coverts usually with dusky and whitish tips. Feet livid flesh-colored." Elliot Coues, 1884

Carolina Wren

"Carolina Wren. Upper parts uniform reddish-brown, brightest on the rump, where are concealed whitish…