PICID.E THE WOODPECKERS. 379 



COMMON CHARACTERS. The American species of Picoides agree in being black above 

 and white beneath; the crown with a yellow patch in the male; a white stripe behind the 

 eye and another from the loral region beneath the eye; the ciuills (but not the coverts) 

 spotted with white; the sides banded transversely with black. Four middle tail- 

 feathers wholly black. 



1. P. arcticus. Dorsal region without white markings; no supraloral white stripe or 

 streak, nor nuchal band of white. Sides of the breast continuously black. Male. 

 Crown with a patch of yellow, varying from lemon, though gamboge, to orange, 

 and not surrounded by any whitish markings or suffusion. Female. Crown 

 lustrous black, without any yellow, and destitute of white streaks or other mark- 

 ings. Wing, 4.85-5.25; tail, 3.60-3.85; culmen, 1.40-1.55. 



2. P. americanus. Back barred or otherwise varied with white; a white supraloral 

 streak and nuchal band. Male. Crown with a patch of yellow, surrounded or 

 margined with more or less of a whitish suffusion. Female. Crown streaked, 

 speckled, or suffused with whitish. Wing, 4.40-5.10; tail, 3.40-3.70; culmen, 1.10-1.25. 



Picoides arcticus (Swains.) 



ARCTIC THREE TOED WOODPECKERS. 



Popular synonym. Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Picus tridactylus "LiNN." AUD. Orn. Biog. ii, 1834, 198; v,1839, 538, pi. 132. NUTT. Man. i, 



1832, 578. (Not of LINN.) 



Picus (Aiiternits) arcticus Sw. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 313, pi. 57. 

 Picus arcticus AUD. Synop. 1839, 182; B. Am. iv, 1842, 2U6, pl.,208. NUTT. Man. 2d ed. i, 



1840, C91. 



Picoides arcticus GRAY, 1845. BATRD, B. N. Am. 1853,98; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 82. 

 COUES, Key, 1872, 194; Check List, 1874, No. 300; 2d ed. 1882, No. 443; B. N. W. 1874, 

 284. B. B. & E. Hist. N. Am. B. ii, 1874, 530, pi. 50, fig. 1. KIDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 

 1881, No. 367. 



HAB. Northern North America, south, in winter, to northern border of United States 

 (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, northern Illinois, etc.); in the West, breeding south (to 40 

 afe least) in higher mountain ranges. 



"Sp. CHAK. Above entirely uniform glossy bluish black; a square patch on the mid- 

 dle of the crown saffron-yellow, and a few white spots on the outer edges of both webs of 

 the primary and secondary quills. Beneath white, on the sides of the whole body, axil- 

 lars, and inner wing-coverts banded transversely with black. Crissurn white, with a few 

 spots anteriorly. A narrow concealed white line from the eye a short distance backwards, 

 and a white stripe from the extreme forehead (meeting anteriorly) under the eye, and 

 down the sides of the neck, bordered below by a narrow stripe of black. Bristly feathers 

 of the base of the bill brown; sometimes a few gray feathers intermixed. Exposed por- 

 tion of two outer tail-feathers (first and second) white; the third obliquely white at end, 

 tipped with black. Sometimes these feathers with a narrow black tip." (Hist. N, 

 Am.B.} 



This species differs from the other American three-toed Wood- 

 peckers chiefly in having the back entirely black. The white line 

 from the eye is usually almost imperceptible, if not wanting entirely. 

 Specimens vary but little ; one from Slave Lake has a longer bill 

 than usual, and the top of head more orange. The size of the 

 crown patch varies ; sometimes the frontal whitish is inappreciable. 

 None of the females before me have any white spots in the black 

 of head, as is always the case with those of P. americanus. 



