134 BaneGs, The American Three-toed Woodpeckers. ren 
A fairly large series of skins from any one place within the 
range of the form will be sure to cover the whole range of varia- 
tion. Thus the type of a/ascensis, from Fort Reliance, N. W. T., 
an adult @, killed in November, is one of the whitest examples 
before me —the whole back and rump are continuously white, 
the wings are very heavily marked with white and the wing- 
coverts thickly spotted, the upper tail-coverts are barred with 
white and the top of the head is more white than black, the 
crown patch is pale lemon yellow; on the other hand, No. 78614 
from the same place, an adult ¢, also taken in November, stands 
at the opposite end of the range of variation; ——the back is 
barred across with black and white in about equal amounts, the 
wing spots are all small and inconspicuous, the wing-coverts are 
unspotted, the upper tail-coverts with only one or two small white 
spots, and the head with but few white freckles; the crown patch 
is deep chrome. This specimen is a pretty good match for 
Swainson’s plate of his type, except that it has the white bars 
on the back narrower than those of Swainson’s figure. A series 
of six skins from Fort Yukon, and another of four skins from 
Fort Liard, each include examples of the whitest and of the dark- 
est style. The two blackest specimens in the large series from 
the Northwest, are an adult ? taken Dec. 12 at Fort Simpson 
(No. 19426), and an adult @ taken Sept. 18 at Fort Yukon 
(No. 73378). These two are very similar; both have the mini- 
mum amount of white on the back and wings, unspotted wing- 
coverts, no white markings on upper tail-coverts, and the head in 
both is clear blue-black without white freckles. No. 19426 has 
the white postocular stripe, but even this is wanting in No. 73378, 
which might well pass for an eastern bird, having much the 
general appearance of specimens from Labrador.! 
As a rule summer specimens are blacker than winter ones, but 
individual variation is so great that this does not always hold 
true. 
In the southern Rocky Mountains true P. americanus is re- 
placed by a much larger form, P. americanus dorsalis, having the 
‘This skin was collected by Turner, and may be wrongly labeled, through 
some accident, as Turner collected both in Labrador and Alaska. 
