74 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 14 



single record indicates. In nearly two years' observations in Teton County, 1 

 met with this species but once, January 5, 1913, and am inclined to think that 

 the l)ird \vould have proved ol' this form had it been collected. 



150. Picoides arcticus (Swainson) 



Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker 



A regular permanent resident of the mountains in the westei-n half of thi' 

 state, evidently commoner in the northwestern part of the state than elsewliere. 

 The species has not been recorded from the most eastern mountain ranges. Its 

 easternmost records are Gallatin County (Richmond and Knowlton, 1894, p. 

 303) and Belt Mountains (Williams, 1882a, p. 62). This bird is not generally 

 common. Williams calls it tolerably common at Columbia Falls (Bendire, 1895, 

 p. 75), and rather common in the Belt Mountains, but other observers find the 

 bird generally rare. In my own experience it is rare, for in six years' work in 

 the mountains of Montana I have seen this species on only four occasions. It was 

 found breeding in the Prickly Pear Canyon in northern Lewis and Clark Coun- 

 ty by Dr. IMerrill (Bendire, 1895, p. 75). This species has been found twice in 

 the prairie region in winter or migration, a specimen having been taken at Bill- 

 ings, in the winter of 1917-18 (Thomas, MS) and a male on Little Pumpkin 

 Creek, Custer County, April 25, 1900 (Hedges, coll. Univ. Mont.) 



151. Picoides americanus fasciatus IJaird 



Alaska Three-toed Woodpecker 



A rather rare permanent resident of northwestern Montana, chiefly on the 

 west side of the divide. It is probable that the birds of this species found on the 

 east side of the divide in the mountain ranges of Teton and Lewis and Clark 

 counties also belong to this form, though they have been previously listed as 

 dorsalis (Saunders, 1914a, p. 133). Those from northwestern Montana have 

 been previously listed as americanus (Bangs, 1899, pp. 130-140). This form in- 

 tergrades with dorsalis southward. Birds with barred rather than continuously 

 white backs have been found even in the southern part of the state, as in Gallatin 

 County (Saunders, 1911a, p. 37) and Jefferson County (Saunders, 1912a, p. 

 26). These birds were recorded as americanus but are more probably fasciatus. 

 There are no definite records of the nesting of this subsjiecies in Montana, al- 

 though it undoubtedly does so regularl.v in the mountains. 



152. Picoides americanus dorsalis Haird 



Alpine Tiiree-toed Woodpecker 



A regular permanent resident of the mountains of southwestern Montana. 

 In most places it is rather rare, though I found it almost common in the moun- 

 tains of Gallatin County, and it is mentioned as common in the mountains of the 

 Big Hole Basin (Forrest, 1914, p. 195). Gallatin County and the Belt Moun- 

 tains (Williams, 1882a, p. 62) appear to be the easternmost points at wliich it 

 has been found. 



