BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 229 



but upon what authority I am unable to say. It is a well 

 known characteristic of all the Woodpeckers remaining over 

 winter, to resort to the thickets in the denser forests during the 

 rigorous periods of winter, where they secure the most complete 

 protection. But this does not constitute a specific character- 

 istic habit. Many species in several different orders of birds 

 do so, showing that it is not even a generic trait. So far as I 

 have been able to learn, this bird affects dry and preferably 

 elevated portions of coniferous forests. When collecting birds 

 at Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, in April and 

 May, 1870, at an elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, this woodpecker 

 was rather a common species. Again, in the Cascade moun- 

 tains, east of Portland, I met with it no less frequently last 

 May. I have never heard its note, and know nothing of its 

 special breeding habits. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Above entirely uniform glossy bluish-black; a square patch 

 on the middle of the crown, saffron yellow and a few spots on 

 the outer edges of both webs of the primary and secondary 

 quills; beneath white on the sides of the breast, longitudinally 

 striped, |^and on the sides of the belly and on the flanks and 

 tibial region, banded transversely with black; a narrow con- 

 cealed white line from the eye a short distance backward, and 

 a white stripe from the extreme forehead (meeting anteriorly) 

 under the eye, and down the sides of the neck; bristly feathers 

 of the base of the bill brown ; exposed portion of the two outer 

 tail feathers (first and second) white; bill bluish black, and 

 the lower mandible grayish-blue; iris bluish-black. 



Length, 9.50; wing, 5; tail 3.85. 



Habitat, northern North America from the Arctic regions 

 south to the northern border of the United States; much fur- 

 ther south in the western parts, embracing Nevada and 

 California, along the mountain ranges. 



PICOIDES AMERICANUS Brehm. (401.) 

 AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



I enter this species upon rumor, having never had the bird 

 in my own hands for indentification. I am credibly informed 

 that several specimens have been obtained on what is called 

 "the north shore," that is of Lake Superior, a portion of the 

 western extremity of which extends into Minnesota. 



I presume that they have been reported, and have received 

 a place in the proceedings of some eastern scientific journal 

 which I have not seen, as they were obtained, I understand, 

 for the museum of some institution of learning there. But the 



