°i8q7^^1 Brewster, Notncnclaiure of the Dinvny Woodfcckers. 8 I 



Linnaeus based his Piciis pubescens on Catesby and Brisson. 

 There can be no doubt as to Catesby's bird, for that author says 

 distinctly in his introduction that the collections on which his work 

 was based were all made either in "the inhabited Parts of Carolina " 

 which "extend West from the Sea about 60 Miles" or "at and 

 about Fort Moore, a small Fortress on the Banks of the River 

 Savanna, which runs from thence a Course of 300 Miles down to 

 the Sea, and is about the same Distance from its Source, in the 

 Mountains." The whole of this region, of course, is included in 

 the range of meridionalis and Swainson's type of that form came 

 from the neighboring State of Georgia. 



Brisson gives a detailed description, evidently drawn from a 

 specimen in hand, but he does not mention from whence his bird 

 came. As he is ordinarily careful to state not only the locality 

 but the collector's name, it seems probable that in this instance he 

 had no definite knowledge on either point, and that his state- 

 ment "on les trouve en Virgitiic &^ <\ la Caroline'' was made 

 largely on the authority of Catesby, whom he cites in his synonymy 

 and whose work he appears to think related to Virginia as well as 

 to the Carolinas. He also cites Klein but this author's Picns 

 Darius tninimus'' ^ was based wholly on Castesby. 



Mr. Oberholser says that the Downy Woodpeckers which 

 he has examined " from North Carolina .... and extreme 

 Southern Virginia, appear to be intermediate between £>. pubes- 

 cens meridionalis and D. pubescens ; and these, although not above 

 included, are perhaps without impropriety referable to D. pubes- 

 cens meridionalis." If Brisson's bird really came from Virginia 

 it was probably taken somewhere not far from the coast and in 

 the southern part of the State. Its measurements favor this 

 hypothesis, for they indicate an exceptionally small bird of even 

 the southern form. It is impossible, however, to ascertain defi- 

 nitely from whence this specimen was derived. It may have 

 been taken almost anywhere in eastern North America — in Can- 

 ada, for instance, where many of Brisson's birds were obtained. 



These facts and considerations have led me to conclude that 

 Mr. Oberholser's position is not tenable, and that if the separation 



' Historian Avium Prodiomus, 1750, p. 27. 



