PICID.E — THE WOODrECKERS. 



583 



at tip, or black at base and red at tip, etc. As the subject has been pre- 

 sented in sufficient detail in the Birds of North America, as quoted above, 

 it need not be repeated liere, except to say that collections received since 

 1858 only substantiate what has there been stated. 



To the race thus noted, the name hijhridus was given, not as of a varietv, 

 since it is not entitled to this i-ank, but as of a heterogeneous mixture, caused 

 by the breeding together of two different species, and requiring some appella- 

 tion. Whether the presumed hybrids are fertile, and breed with each other or 

 with full-blooded parents, has not yet been ascertained ; perhaps not, since 

 the area in which they occur is limited, and it is only occasionally that 

 individuals of the kind referred to have been found beyond the bounds men- 

 tioned. It is very rarely, however, that pure bi-eeds occur in the district of 

 hyhrichis, a taint being generally appreciable in all. 



The conditions in the present instance appear different from those adverted 

 to under the head of Picus villosnn, where the question is not one of hybridism 

 between two strongly marked and distinct species, but of the gradual change, 

 between the Atlantic and the Pacific, from one pattern of coloration to an- 

 other. 



Colaptes chrysoides, jNIalh. 



THE CAPE FLICKEE. 



Gcopicus chrysoides, M.\Ln. Rev. et Mag. Zool. IV, 1852, 553. — In. Jlon. Pic. II, 261, 

 tab. 109. Colaptes chrysoides, Baikd, Birds N. Am. ISoS, 125. — Elliot, 111. Birds 

 N. Am. VI, plate. — Cooper, Pr. C'al. Ac. 1861, 122 (Fort Mohave). — CouEs, Pr. 

 A. N". Sc. 1866, 56 (Arizona). — ScL. Cat. 1862, 344. — Elliot, Illust. Am. B. I, pi. 

 xxvi. — Cooper, Om. C'al. I, 1870, 410. Picus chrysoides, Sunuevall, Coiisp. 72. 



Sp. Cuau. Markings generally as in other species. Top of head rufous-brown ; chin, 

 throat, and sides of head ash-gray. Shafts of quills and tail-feathers, with their under 

 surfaces in great part, gamboge-yellow ; no nuchal red. Malar patch of male red ; want- 

 ing in the female. Length. 11,50; wing. 5.7.5 ; tail, 4.50. 



Hab. Colorado and G-ila River, north to Fort Mohave, south to Cape St. Lucas. Locali- 

 ties: Fort Mohave (Cooper, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1861, 122); W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S 

 1866, 56). 



This interesting species is intermediate between auratus and mrxkanus in 

 having the yellow shafts and qtiills of the former ; a red malar jiatch, an 

 ashy throat, and no nuchal crescent, as in the latter. To mcxicanoides the 

 relationship is still closer, since both have the rufous-brown head abo\^e. A 

 hybrid between this last species and auratus would in some varieties come 

 very near chn/soidi's, but as it does not belong to the region of chrysoides, 

 and there is no transition from one species to the other in any specimens, as 

 in hyhridus, there is no occasion to take this view of the species. 



Cape St. Lucas specimens, where the species is exceedingly abundant, are 

 considerably smaller than those from Arizona, and appear to be more strongly 



