TJie Canadian IVoodjjeckers. Ill 



consider all those of North Arnrrica as of one genus. Tliose which 

 we have observed in the valley of the Ottawa we shall describe in the present 

 article, and it is probable that the species we have to notice are generally 

 distributed over the British Provinces, being more numerous in some 

 localities than in others. 



Picus Arcticus, (Swainson.) — The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Specific Characters. — Three-toed, crown of the head yellow, rest of 

 upper parts black, loioer parts white ; Female ivithout yellow 

 on the head, length lO^-o^ breadth 16. Inhabits North 

 America from the State of Nevj York to the Arctic regions. 



This bird was long considered to be identical with the three-toed Wood- 

 pecker of the northern countries of Europe, but is now classified as a distinct 

 species. Although very abundant in the Hudson's Bay Territories, and 

 extending its range as far south as the State of New York, yet it is not 

 numerous in Canada. Those that we have seen were in the pine forests of 

 . the Ottawa, and it is said they seek their food principally among the insects 

 that infest the decajdng trees of the pine-tribe rather than among those of 

 the hardwoods. The circumstance that the head-quarters of the species, 

 or the region where they most abound, is situated in the north, where the 

 spruce, the fir, and pine, are almost the only trees, appears to support this 

 view. Be Kay, in the Natural History of New York, says it is a rare 

 species in that State, but that he saw numbers of them on one occasion in 

 the mountainous forests of Herkimer and Hamilton counties in June. 



The following description given by Audubon will apply to nearly all the 

 specimens : — 



" Three-toed, with the upper parts glossy bluish black, the lower white, 

 the sides and lower wing coverts transversely barred with black ; tufts of 

 bristly feathers black ; crown of the head safh'on yellow ;. a white line from 

 behind the eye ; a band of the same from the base of the upper mandible to 

 beneath the ear coverts, succeeded by a black band ; inner webs of all the 

 • quills and outer webs of the primaries spotted with white, there being seven 

 spots on the outer and five on the inner webs of the three longest ; four 

 middle tail-feathers black, the next with an oblique band of white, the rest 

 black only at the base, except the outermost, of which nearly all the inner 

 web is of that colour ; Female without yellow on the head." 



Male 10}<, 16. 



Its geographical range is stated by Audubon to be, from the northern 

 parts of New York to the Fur countries, as well as along the eastern 

 (declivities of the Rocky Mountains. Rather common, partially migratory. 



A specimen which we shot in the Townsliip of Hull, near the City of 

 Ottawa, on the 10th of May, 1856, measured 9>^ inches only in length. 



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