BIKDS. 



157 



I give below lucasuremeuts of two seiies, oue of uoitbeiu birds taken iu the vicinity of Saint 

 Michaels and along tbe course of the Yukon, and the other from specimens taken at various points 

 in the United States, by a comparison of which may be seen the amount and character of the varia- 

 tion exhibited by birds from the two regions : 



PICUS PUBESCENS. 



PicoiDES AECTicus (Swaius.). Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Very little appears to be known concerning the movements and habitat of this bird, especially 

 iu the north. I secured but a single specimen, which was brought me by Mr. i\IcQaesteu from Fort 

 Eeliance, on the Upper Yukon, and its rarity as compared with the other Three-toed Woodpecker 

 appears from the fact that dozens of the latter were brought me each winter. No oue among the 

 various naturalists who have visited this region before has secured it, and arcticus is totally 

 unknown west of tbe point where my specimen was found. The wooded and mountainous southern 

 portion of the Territory is a still unknown region, and it is likely that the bird will be found to be 

 more or less common there. The next record appears to be the one given by Mr. Lord, who 

 secured one on the summit of the Cascade Mountains iu British Columbia, and upon this rests the 

 only other northwestern record of this bird. It penetrates the United States at various places, 

 and is not very uncommon in Northern New England and New York, as well as near the northern 

 boi-der at various other suitable places, reaching the Rocky Mountains and the Ca.scade Range of 

 the Sierras, and it extends farthest to the south on the eastern and western extremes of its range. 



The National Museum possesses specimens from the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, beyond 

 which there appears to be no record. My bird, which was secured on the 17th of October, 1878, 

 does not difl'er from others of tbe same species taken at various localities in the Eastern United 

 States. 



PicoiDES AMEEicANUS ALASCENSis (Nels.). AUiskau Thrce-toed Woodpecker.* 



A careful comparison of tbe large series of Picoides contained iu the National Museum 

 from tbe Rocky Mountains and a series of nearly a dozen fine specimens from Northern New York, 

 kindly loaned me by Drs. C. H. Merriam and A. K. Fisher, with a large number of British 

 American and Alaskan skins, shows conclusively that three well-marked geographical races of this 

 bird exist in North America. From tbe Lake Superior region eastward, and along the Atlantic 

 coast north, embracing the region about Hudson's Bay and joining tbe habitat of the other forms 

 about Fort Simpson, on tbe headwaters of the Mackenzie River, is tbe range of typical americanus, 

 which intergrades with the other races along tbe junction of their habitats. Along the Rocky 

 Mountains from Fort Simpson, on the headwaters of the Mackenzie, and westward to the Sitkan 

 and Kadiak regions of Southeastern Alaska as its northern border and tbence along the Rocky 



• Described in the Auk, April, 18a4, pp. 165, 166. 



