'I'oDD: ( )r.\i riioi.ocv of ISaiiama Islands. 421 



Providence (No. 305S9) has a toiij.k- of black spots on one of the 

 outermost rectrices, indicating a variation in the direction of the fol- 



lowinii form. 



35. Dryobates villosus piger Allen. 



One si)iHimc'n: Aharo (Sand Hank). 



Tlu' characters claimed for this form arc oI)\ioiis in the case of the 

 present example. It measures as follows: wing 102 mm.; tail 6l; 

 exjiosed culmen, 24. 



36. Sphyrapicus varius varius (Linnanis). 



Three specimens: New Pro\ idence (Blue Hills); Great Inagua 

 (Mathewtown) ; Watlings Island. 



Three difTcrent plumages are represented. The New Providence 

 bird is an immature female, with a s]n-inkling of red feathers on the 

 crown; the Watlings Island bird (IMarch 27) is an immature female 

 which has nearly completed the first prenuptial moult; while the 

 example from Great Inagua is an adult male in full ])lumage. 



37. Centurus nyeanus nyeanus Ridgw-ay. 

 Nine specimens: Watlings Island. 



"Iris red brown; bill black; feet pale olive." 



The acquisition of this fine series of a bird at one time presumed to 

 be extinct (cf. Nye, Auk, XVI, 1899, 273), but more recently (1903) 

 detected by Mr. Riley (cf. Auk, XX, 1903, 434), enables its characters 

 and relationships to be determined w'ith more precision than hereto- 

 fore. In the first place, in my judgment Mr. Riley has gone too far 

 in reducing the Bahaman forms to subspecies of the Cuban Centurus 

 superciliaris {cf. Auk, XXII, 1905, 355), as I shall endeavor to show 

 further on, and in any event C. n. nyeanus would seem the least 

 closely related to the Cuban species of all three forms. Compared 

 with C. n. blakei, of which a good series of both sexes is available, its 

 difterential characters are more obviously of a subspecific nature. 

 Taking up the males first, we find that the principal difTerences are as 

 follows: in yiyeanus the frontal feathers are crimson, scarcely paler than 

 the crown and nape, while in blakei this frontlet is very pale, in 

 some examples being merely tinged with crimson. The black postocular 

 spot, which is very small or absent in nyeanus, is large and prominent 

 in blakei, reaching backward almost even with the hinder margin of 

 the auriculars. In the females the first-named difference also holds 

 good, while the latter one is even more pronounced, the black postocular 



