126 G. M. Allen, Summer Birds in the Bahamas. LApr 



In the Northern Bahama and the Maynard's Hairy Woodpeckers is 

 seen a progressive reduction in the amount and extent of the black in the 

 side stripe or epaulette, so that from a large, triangular patch with 

 sharply defined borders in D. v. audnboni it becomes in D. v. figer a 

 band with a less clear-cut limit posteriorly while in D. v. maynardi the 

 band becomes finally reduced to a series of streaks at its posterior exten- 

 sion. This is due to the restriction of black in the terminal feathers of 

 the stripe, so that while in D. v. piger most of these feathers are entirely or 

 largely black, in D.v. maynardi the black is limited to a median streak. 

 One of the New Providence specimens of D. v. maynardi (a fine adult 

 female) has the breast stripe practically as in the Northern Bahama bird, 

 but in all the other skins examined the difference is usually apparent at 

 a glance. 



Through the courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, I 

 have been able to examine four birds from Andros. These as expected, 

 are quite typical of D. v. maynardi, and have unspotted tips to the outer 

 two pairs of tail feathers, except that one specimen (an immature male) 

 approaches the Northern Bahama bird in having a minute black spot on 

 the inner web of the right outer tail feather and another on the left tail 

 feather of the second pair. 



We did not find this bird except among the open pine woods of Abaco 

 and Great Bahama, where it apparently is generally distributed but not 

 verv common. Its movements impressed me as being slow and lethargic 

 as compared with the energetic jerks and resounding thwacks of our New 

 England Hairy Woodpecker. The notes were similar to those of our bird. 

 All the specimens had the breast feathers stained a dull reddish from the 

 pine bark. 



38. Centurus blakei (Ridgw.). Blake's Woodpecker. — Near Sweet- 

 ing's Village, Great Abaco, we found several of these woodpeckers on 

 Julv 21, among the trees which here form a fairly respectable forest. 

 One pair was accompanied by several fully grown young, which, how- 

 ever, were still being fed by the old birds. Their loud, tree toad-like 

 rattle was very similar to that of our Red-headed Woodpecker. Accord- 

 ing to the natives these woodpeckers were almost always to be found in 

 this particular vicinity, and, indeed, we did not meet with them else- 

 where. 



39. Chordeiles virginianus vicinus Riley. Bahama Nighthawk; 

 " Killy-ka-dick." — We found the newly-described Bahama Nighthawk 

 common on most of the islands visited. At Nassau numbers of them 

 were flying, towards sunset, and elsewhere we sometimes observed them 

 at other hours of the day hawking after insects. On many of the outer 

 cays they were almost always found in the strip of grass and scattered 

 bushes just back of the beach, and on Moraine Cay we started several 

 pairs from such cover in a walk of half a mile or less. When flushed 

 they usually alighted again a short distance away. Their color harmo- 

 nized well with that of their surroundings. On Moraine Cay a specimen 



