The simplicity of colouring in the plumage of this bird will easily distinguish it from among the numerous and intricate species already known of this family. It is one of the new birds the recent investigations of Brazilian zoology have added to our museums. The individual here figured was sent me from the district of Minas Geraies.
PICUS bicolor.
Black and White Woodpecker.
Generic Character.—See Pl. 14.
Specific Character.
- P. albus, collo supra, tergo, alis, lineaque temporali nigris, rectricibus nigris, basi maculisque marginis interioris albis.
- White: neck above, back, wings, and line from the ears to the nape, black; tail-feathers black, with their base and spots on the inner margin white.
Total length eleven inches and a half. Bill from the upper base to the tip one inch one line, and from the gape one inch four-tenths; the colour blueish-black; the upper mandible above sharply carinated and slightly curved; orbits (in the dead bird) yellowish-white; the whole of the head and nape, sides of the neck, rump and tail-covers, and all the under plumage pure white, with a tinge of yellow down the middle of the belly: a narrow black line commences at the ears, and is carried down on each side, joining the black of the upper neck; the wings and remaining upper plumage are of a uniform dark sooty black; the tips of the quills much paler and brownish. Wings six inches and a half long; the inside covers black. Tail four inches, and black banded with white at the extreme base; the two outer feathers on each side with alternate black and white bands on the inner web their whole length; feet and claws dirty-greenish: this was a female.