Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 513 



Genus PICOIDES Lac6pede. 



191. Picoides arcticus (Swains.). 



Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Distr.: Northern North America, from the Arctic regions south 

 to the northern United States; New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 etc. 



Adult male: Toes, three; upper plumage, glossy bluish black; 

 a patch of ^^ellow on the crown; front of forehead, white, extending 





in a white stripe below the eye to side of neck; throat, breast, and 

 middle of belly, white; sides of body, black, barred with white; middle 

 tail feathers, black; outer tail feathers, white, except at the base. 



Adult female: Similar, but without yellow on the crown. 



Length, 9.45; wing, 5.25; tail, 4.05; bill, 1.20. 



The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker is a rare winter visitant in 

 Illinois. Mr. Isaac E. Hess writes me he has taken a specimen near 

 Philo, Illinois. Mr. Nelson writes (Birds N. E. Illinois, 1876, p. 115): 

 "A specimen was shot from a telegraph pole in Chicago a few years 

 since by Dr. Velie. It is a common species in northern Wisconsin, 

 and before the pines along the Lake were destroyed, was probably a 

 regular winter visitant in this state." Mr. Woodruff (Birds of the 

 Chicago Area, 1907, p. no) records the occurrence of a bird of this 

 species on the authority of Mr. Eliot Blackwelder at Morgan Park, 

 Illinois, Dec. 29, 1894. 



It is more or less common in northern Wisconsin in winter and 

 may be resident, as Kumlien and HoUister state (Birds of Wisconsin, 

 1903, p. 75): "This species undoubtedly breeds in the northern part 



