MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 303 



Not numerous in Florida in comparison with the other species of 

 Picidce. 



The difference in size between northern and southern specimens of all the 

 species of the Picidce is greater than obtains in most other families of birds. 

 So great is it in Picus villosus and Picus pubescens that it was in these species 

 that such variations were first noticed. This difference is well pointed out 

 by Professor Baird in his work on the North American Birds, and fully de- 

 monstrated in his table of measurements. On this ground he distinguished 

 three varieties of P. villosus, — P. villosus major, occupying the northern 

 and western portions of the continent; P. villosus medius, occupying the 

 Middle States ; and P. villosus minor, occupying the Southern States. 

 Audubon regarded the two former as distinct species. In addition to these 

 variations in size, my Florida specimens indicate a well-marked variation 

 in color between the northern and extreme southern races, the Florida 

 specimens differing from New England ones in having the white mark- 

 ings of relatively less extent, which gives to the plumage a considerably 

 darker aspect. Through this variation there is an approach in the Florida 

 examples of P. villosus to the so-called P. Harrisii of the Pacific coast and 

 Rocky Mountain regions of the continent, and in the Florida examples of 

 P. pubescens to the so-called P. Gairdneri, also of the middle and western 

 regions of the continent. These, as is well known, differ respectively from 

 P. villosus and P. pubescens almost solely in a general darker aspect, re- 

 sulting simply from the relatively greater predominance of the black color 

 of the plumage over the white markings in the western type ; there being 

 no change whatever in the general style of coloration, though some of the 

 smaller white spots seen in the eastern are entirely obsolete in the western 

 type. Under Picus Gairdneri Professor Baird thus describes these varia- 

 tions. " There is," he says, " the same series in specimens of Picus Gaird- 

 neri that were indicated under P. Harrisii. Thus the most northern from 

 Washington Territory and Oregon have the under parts more brown, 

 with faint black streaks, the white spots above smaller and less numerous. 

 In specimens from California and farther east the white is purer, the 

 spots more conspicuous." " The almost perfect parallelism," he further 

 observes, " with appreciable differences between the markings of the 

 northwestern and southeastern varieties of Picus Harrisii and Gairdneri, 

 and their relationship to P. villosus and pubescens, is a remarkable fact in 

 American ornithology, and may possibly indicate the necessity either of 

 dividing the dark ones into a Pacific and Rocky Mountain series, or of con- 

 sidering all as variations of two species, a larger [P. villosus] and a smaller 

 [P. pubescens], changing their character with longitudinal distribution." 

 And he aptly adds, " Many other supposed species are involved in the 



