52 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



in the ' Fauna Bor.-Am/ as an inhabitant of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, is identified from the neighbourhood of lied River Settle- 

 ment by specimens procured by Mr. Donald Gunn, now in the 

 collection of the Smithsonian Institution, and by Mr. Bernard 

 Ross on the Mackenzie. I observed what I took for this species 

 on several occasions, and, in fact, shot a specimen on the western 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains, but at the time I had no oppor- 

 tunity of preserving it. 



PiCOIDES HIRSUTUS. 



The Banded Three-toed Woodpecker is here inserted on the 

 authority of the ' Fauna Bor.-Am.^ and Mr. Bernard Ross as an 

 inhabitant of the central and northern regions, and on that of 

 Mr. Murray of the shores of Hudson's Bay. 



Mr. Bernard Ross considers that he has obtained a specimen 

 of Picoides dorsalis on the Mackenzie, where it winters. 



21. Sphyropicus varius. 



Besides having been found on the Saskatchawan, whence my 

 specimen (' Ibis,' vol. iv. p. 3) was obtained, both Sir John Rich- 

 ardson and Mr. Bernard Ross record the Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker on the Mackenzie. 



22. Hylotomus pileatus. 



This fine bird is highly esteemed among the Indians of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company's territory as medicine. It must not, 

 however, be considered that " medicine " means physic ; it 

 should more properly be understood as " charm." So greatly 

 do these people value the bird in this way, that they skin 

 it and stufi" it, hanging it to the poles of the wigwam when 

 any inmate is labouring under indisposition ; and they cannot 

 be induced to part with it under any circumstances. Before I 

 succeeded in obtaining a specimen myself [' Ibis,' vol. iv. p. 3), a 

 Cree Indian, who was camping near Fort Carlton for a few days 

 in January 1858, brought one stuflfed in the manner above no- 

 ticed to show me, because he had heard that I was "curious 

 about birds." It had been shot at a place called Sturgeon Lake, 

 about sixty miles to the north of the fort — the last fall, and had 

 been presented to him as medicine for his wife, who had stuffed 

 it with moss ; and, to do the old squaw credit, I must say that the 



