504 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Immature bird of either sex with more or less of the whole crown spotted with red 

 or yellow, or both, sometimes the red almost continuous. 



Hab. North America, to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and (var. canaden- 

 sis) along the 49th parallel to British Columbia ; Sitka ; accidental in England. 



In the infinite variation shown by a large number of specimens in the 

 markings of the wings, so relied on by authors to distinguish the species of 

 the black and white spotted North American Woodpeckers having a longi- 

 tudinal band of white down the back, it will be perhaps our best plan to cut 

 them rigorously down to two, the old-fashioned and time-honored P. villosus 

 and pubescens ; since the larger and more perfect the series, the more diffi- 

 cult it is to draw the line between them and their more western representa- 

 tives. The size varies very greatly, and no two are alike in regard to the 

 extent and number of the white spots. Beginning at one end of the chain, 

 we find the white to predominate in the more eastern specimens. Thus in 

 one (20,601) from Canada, and generally from the north, every wing-covert 

 (except the smallest) and every quill shows externally conspicuous spots or 

 bands of white ; the middle coverts a terminal band and central spot ; the 

 greater coverts two bands on the outer web, and one more basal on the inner ; 

 and every quill is marked with a succession of spots in pairs throughout its 

 length, — the outer w^eb as bands reaching nearly to the shaft ; the inner 

 as more circular, larger spots. The alula alone is unspotted. This is the 

 typical marking of the P. leucomelas or canadensis of authors. The white 

 markings are all larger respectively than in other forms. 



The next stage is seen in typical or average P. villosus for the Middle 

 States. Here the markings are much the same, but the white is more re- 

 stricted, and on the outer webs of the feathers forms rounded spots rather 

 than bands. Some Carlisle specimens have two spots on the middle coverts 

 as described, others lack the basal one. Another stage is exhibited by a speci- 

 men from Illinois, in which with two spots on the middle coverts there is but 

 one terminal on the outer web of the greater, and a reduction in number 

 of spots on the inner webs of innermost secondaries, terminal outer spots 

 not having the corresponding inner. This form is quite prevalent westward 

 and on the Upper Missouri, but cannot be considered as strictly geograph- 

 ical, since a Massachusetts and a Georgia skin agree in the same characters. 



In all this variation there is little diminution in the number of spots 

 visible externally, nor so far have we seen any from the region east of the 

 Missouri plains that lack white spots on every covert (except the smallest 

 ones) and every quill, and with few exceptions on both webs of the latter. 

 It is therefore this style that we propose to consider as pure P. villosus, 

 irrespective of variations in the size or shape of the spots, of the amount of 

 white on tail and back, or of the bird itself Any deviation from this may be 

 called a variety. It has the distribution already mentioned, and extends along 

 the Upper Missouri to British Columbia and Sitka, straggling into Washing- 

 ton Territory, where, however, it is found with the more typical western form. 



