ARCTIC THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 245 



Genus PICOIDES Lacepede. 

 PicoiDES ARCTICUS (Swains.). 



173. Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. (400) 



Crown, with a yellow patch in the male ; back, uniform black ; sides of 

 head, striped ; of body, barred with black and white ; under parts, otherwise 

 white ; quills, with white spots ; tail feathers unbaned, the outer white, the 

 central black. Length, 8-9 ; wing, 4^-5 ; tail, 34-4. 



Hab. — Northern North America, from the Arctic Regions south to the 

 northern border of the United States ; much fai-ther south in the western 

 part of the United States (Nevada, California), along the mountain ranges. 



Eggs, four to six, white, deposited in a hole in a tree. 



This is a northern bird, seldom, even in w^inter, coming so far 

 south as the southern border of Ontario. In November, 1859, I 

 killed one on a pine tree on the south shore of Dundas marsh, which 

 is the only time I have ever seen it alive. I have heard of one or 

 two others having been obtained in Southern Ontario, but as the 

 species is common farther north, these can onl}' be regarded as 

 wanderers. 



In the district of Muskoka it is resident and quite common, fre- 

 quenting certain tracts of country which the fire has gone thi'ough 

 and left the trees standing dead and decaying. It belongs to a small 

 group, the members of which have only three toes. Whether this is 

 a special adaptation of the bird to its life among the pines is not 

 apparent, but it seems quite as able to shift for itself with three toe.s 

 as its near I'elatives are with four. 



Although this species is a northern bird, so far as its not going 

 south is concerned, it does not beai' out the name by going as far 

 north as its near relative, ameriemuis. In some of these distant 

 regions it seems almost unknown. Mr. Nelson speaks of it in 

 Alaska : " Very little appears to be known concerning the movements 

 and habitat of this bird, especially in the north. I secured but a 

 single specimen, which was brought to me by Mr. McQuesten from 

 Fort Reliance on the upper Yukon, and its rarity as compared with 

 the other Three-toed Woodpecker appears from the fact that dozens 

 of the latter were brought to me each winter. No one among the 

 various naturalists who have visited this region before lias secured 

 it, and arcticus is totally unknown west of the point where my 

 specimen was found." 



