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.
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.