288 SPIIYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS. 



SPHYRAPICUS THYHOIDEUS, (Cass.) Bd. 



Black-breasted or Williarason's Woodpecker. 



Picas ihyro'idens, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad, v, 1851, 349 ( 5 ). — Heerm., Journ. Phila. Acad. 



ii, 183:5, 270.— SUND., Cousp. Av. Pic. 186(5, 32. 

 Picus (Sphyrapicns) fhi-;roidem, Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 18G, No. 8618. 

 Mclanvrpes thijroideus.^CASS., 111. B. Cal. aud Tex. 1854, 201, pi. 32. 

 Pihiminis thi/roideus, Bp., Cousp. Vol. Zygod. 1854, 8. 

 Colaptes tlu/rcoidens, Keich., Haud-buch Sp. Oru. 411. 

 S2}kijrap)ici(s tityroideus, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 106. — Hayd., Ecp. 1862, 155. — CoUES, Pr. 



Phila. Acad. 1866, 54,— Malh., Mou. Pic. i, 162, pi. 37, f. 2.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 



1870, 394.— Mekk., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 694.— CouES, Key, 1872, 195.— 



Hensh., Am. Nat. viii, 1874, 242. 

 Sphyropicus thyroidem, B. B. «& R., N. A. B. ii. 1874, 547, pi. 56, fig. 6. 

 Cladoscopiis Ihyroideus, Cab. & Heine, Mrs. Hein. iv, 1863, 84. 

 ''Picas aatalia', Malh., J. f. O. 1854, 171." 

 " Centaras natalice., Reich., Haud-buch Sp. Oru. 411." 

 Picas wiUiamsoni, Newh., 1'. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 89, pi. 34, f . 1 ( ,? ). — SUND., Consp. Ar. 



Pic. 1866, 32. 

 SpJiyrapicas wiUiamsoni, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 105. — Hayd., Rep. 1862, 1.55. — Malh., Mon. 



Pic. i, 163, pi. 36, f. 4.— CouES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 54.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 



393.— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 180.— Merr., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 



694.— CoUES, Key, 1872, 195. 

 Sphyropicus wiUiamsoni, B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 545, pi. 51, fig. 5. 

 Cladoscopus tviIUamso7ii, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Heiu. iv, 1863, 82. 

 Melanerpes {Cladoscopus) wiUiamsoni, Gray, Haud-list, ii, 1870, 201, No. 8820. 

 Melanerpes ruhrigularis, ScL., P. Z. S. 1858, i, pi. 131 ; Aun. Mag. Nat. Hist. 1858, 127 ( ^ ). 



Hah. — Rocky Mouutaius to the Pacific, Uuited States. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 8803-04, Larauiie Peak, August 24, 1857. 



Later Expeditions. — 62363 {$), Wyomiug ; 62259 {juvenis), Montaua. 



The foregoing synonymy will doubtless be viewed with surprise by 

 those not previously aware of Mr. Henshaw's discovery that '■'• icilliam- 

 smiV is the male and '■'■ thyroideu^'''' the female, of one aud the same spe- 

 cies. IsTo point in our ornithology could have been more novel and 

 unexpected than w^as Mr. Henshaw's announcement of the fact, which 

 he determined beyond reasonable question, that he found the two sup- 

 posed species paired and rearing a family in the same hole. It is not 

 uninstructive now to look back upon the history of the supposed species. 

 In the first place we notice that the two have always been accredited 

 with the same geographical range, and have generally been found to- 

 gether; at least, most papers containing a notice of one, also give the 

 other. Next we observe, in most cases, hesitation and evident uncer- 

 tainty in descriptions of the sexual differences of each sui)posed species, 

 the female of '-'■ wUliamsoni'''' and the male of '•'■ thyroidenH'''' having been 

 groped for indeed, but not found. Nor is there, in the fairly large amount 

 of material received at the Smithsonian, an unquestionable specimen of 

 the opposite sex of either of the supposed species. As indicating how 

 far w'e may sometimes go astray, these birds have been placed in several 

 different genera, so widely have the sexes of one species been dissoci- 

 ated ; while the biographical notices which have appeared are not 

 entirely concordant, showing how much our written history of living 

 birds may be tempered by evidently fortuitous circumstances of observa- 

 tion, or transient impressions of an observer. 



On the systematic position of the species there is no room for ques- 

 tion. Prof. Baird correctly assigned it to the genus Sphyrapicus^ of 

 which it is a typical representative, having all the strong lingual pecul- 

 iarities of 8. variufi, as I showed in my paper above cited. 



I frequently observed this Woodpecker in the pineries about Fort 

 Whipple, where it is resident and not uncommon, though less abundant 

 than either the Melanerpes formicivorus or Colaptes mexicanus. It ap- 



