688 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PICA RLE — PIC I. 



southern California; others from New Mexico and Colorado. This form has until lately l)een 

 included in the Key and otlier works uudevgairdneri; but it ofiers a case precisely parallel witli 

 that of hyloscopus as compared with harrisi. Pieiis gairdneri Auct. in part, of former eds. of 

 the Key. P. meridionaUs Heerm. nee Sw. D. homorus Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, pt. 2, 

 1863, p. 65. D. p. homorus Ridgw. Man. 2d ed. 1896, p. 597; A. O. U. Suppl. List, Auk, 

 Jan. 1897, p. 126; Dryobates p. oreoeeus Batch. Auk, July, 1889, p. 253; A. 0. U. List, 

 2d ed. 189.5, No. 394 b. Pieus p. oreoeeus Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 903. 

 D. p. gaird'neri. (To Dr. Meredith Gairdner, a Scotch naturalist.) Columbian Downy 

 Woodpecker. Gairdner's Woodpecker. Bearing the same relation to D.pubescens that 

 harrisi does to villosus ; wing-spots few or wanting on inner quills and coverts ; belly smoky- 

 gray. Pacific Coast region of the United States and British Columbia. Picus gairdnerii And. 

 1839; P. pubescens gairdnerii Coues, Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 194 (including homorus), and 

 of most later writers ; Dryobates 2)- gairdnerii Ridgw. Man. 1887, p. 283 (including homorus); 

 A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 394 « (excluding homorus) ; also, B. p.fumidus Maynard, 

 Orn. and Ool. Apr. 1889, p. 58. 



XENOPI'CUS. (Gr. |eVos, xenos, rare, foreign.) Masked Woodpeckers. Form as in 

 Dryobates. Body uniformly black. Head white. Tongue but little more extensible than in 

 Sphyropicus ; its tip can be protruded less than an inch. 



X. albolarva'tus. (Lat. alho, with white ; larratus, masked.) White-headed Wood- 

 pecker. Body not banded, streaked, nor spotted. Uniform black ; whole head white, in ^ 



with a scarlet nuchal band ; a large 

 patch of white on wing, formed by white 

 spaces on both webs of primaries, divided 

 only by their black shafts; on seconda- 

 ries connnonly resolved into a number 

 of blotches. Bill and feet plumbeous- 

 blackish. Iris red. 9 without red on 

 nape. Length 8.75-9.50; extent 15.75- 

 16.25 ; wing 5.00-5.25 ; tail 3.50. Moun- 

 tains of California, Oregon, Washington, 

 and southern British Columbia ; E. to 

 some portit)ns of Idaho and Utah, com- 

 mon in pine woods, ranging up to 9,000 

 feet or more, resident or imperfectly mi- 

 gratory. A remarkable species, unique 

 in coloration, and still more peculiar in 

 the little extensibility of the tongue, 

 which can be pulled out scarcely an 

 inch ; that of D. villosus, on the con- 

 trary, extending 2 inches or more beyond 

 end of bill. This species nests chiefly in 

 June, but from May to July, seldom at 

 any considerable height, often quite near 

 the ground; eggs 3-7, oftenest4, averag- 

 ing 0.95 X 0.70; with a variation of 

 0.15 in length. 



PICOl'DES. (Lat. 2ncits, a wood- 

 pecker; Gr. fidos, eidos, resemblance. 

 Fig. 402.) Three-toed Woodpeckers. Three-toed: hallux (1st toe) absent, 4th toe re- 

 versed as usual in the family. Bill about as long as head, stout, straight, with bevelled end 



Fig 402. — European Three-toed Woodpecker ( Picoides tri- 

 dactylus), J iiat. size ; }iardly distiuguishable in the cut from P. 

 americanus. (From Brehm. ) 



