78 CHECK LIST OF NOBTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



442. Xenopicus albolarvatns (Cass.) Bd. b 8i. c 295. R 366. 

 White-headed Woodpecker. 



,443. Picoides arcticns (Sw.) Gray, b 82. c 300. R 3G7. 

 Black-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 



444. Picoides americanns Brehm. b 83. c 30i. R 368. 



Banded-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 



445. Picoides americanus dorsalis (Bd.) Allen, b 84. c 30irt. R 368a. 



striped-backed Three-toed Woodpecker. 



'446. Sphyropicus varius (L.) Bd. b 85. c 302. r 369. 



Yellow-bellied W^ood pecker. 



447. Sphyropicus varius nuchalis Bd. b 86. c 302a. r S69a. 



Nuchal Woodpecker. 



448. Sphyropicus varius ruber (Gm.) Ridg. b 87. c 302 6, or 303. r 369&. 



Red-breasted Woodpecker. 



449. Sphyropicus thyroi'des (Cass.) Bd. B 88, 89. c 304, 305. R 370. 



BroTvn-headed Woodpecker. 



442. X6n-6-pi'-cus al-b5-lar-va'-tus. Gr. |tVos, a guest, stranger ; leVos, rare, foreign, &c. — Lat. 



albolarvtUus, white-masked ; albus, white, and larca, a mask. The same word is used for 

 insects in their early stage, when the characters of the imajo, or perfect insect, are 

 masked or hidden in the caterpillar. 



Given as Picus a. in tiie orig. ed. For generic characters, see Ridgw., Pr. Nat. Mus., 

 ii, 1880, p. 6. 



443. Pi-c6-i'-des arc'-tl-cils. Lat. picus, a woodpecker, and Gr. elSos, resemblance. Tiie word 



is one of the numerous bastards in the genera of Picidce, which authors seem bent on 

 producing; there is no such word as Picus in Greek, yet they have constantly com- 

 poimded it with Greek adjectives. The el becomes long i; the o is the connecting 

 vowel ; the word should have the dia3resis over the i, and be pronounced in four sylla- 

 bles, with accent on the penult. All such hybrid words are so far wrong as to be past 

 praying for, and scarcely worth the trouble of trying to twist into some decent shape. 



444. P. am-er-i-ca'-nfis. To America. See Parula, No. 93. 



445. P. a. dor-sa'-lis. Lat. dorsalis, pertaining to dorsum, the back. 



446. Sphy-ro-pi'-cus var'-I-iis. Gr. o-c^Cpof, a hammer, and Lat. /)i'c«s. It was originally written 



sphi/rapicus by Baird ; but the connecting vowel should be o in this case. It is usually 

 accented on the antepenult, with shortening of the i in picus, for which we see no reason, 

 beyond our extreme tendency to throw the accent always backward. The word is a 

 hopeless hybrid, even when emended as above; sphijrocopus ((r<pvpoK6iros) would have 

 been classic for a hammerer. — Lat. varius, various, varied, variegated ; referring to tlie 

 coloration in this case. 



447. S. V. nQ-cha-lis. Quasi-Lat. nuchalis, relating to the nape, nucha, which is red in this bird, 



not in S. varius. See Leucosticte, No. 205. 



448. S. V. rub'-er. Lat. 7-iiber, red. 



This stands as S. ruber in the body of the orig. ed. of the Check List : as above in the 

 appendix. 



449. S. thy-ro-i'-des. Gr. BvpeoeiS'fis, resembling a certain kind of shield ; in allusion to the 



shield-shaped black spot on the breast ; BvptSs, a shield, elSos, resemblance. The fuller 

 form of the word would be thyrcoides, in five syllables. It has always been wrongly 

 written thyroideiis. See especially Picoides, No. 443. 



Note. — S. williamsoni, No. 305 of the orig. ed., is the male of the same species. 



