2*76 Miller, Abnormal Color Markitigs. Fm'^ 



every other way, has all the white feathers of the rump marked 

 subterminally with round or subcordate spots of black. The 

 larger feathers of the rump are in addition crossed or nearly 

 crossed by from one to three black bars, each of which tends to 

 narrow near the shaft so that occasionally the constriction divides 

 the bar into two distinct spots. 



In the Cuban Colaptes chrysocaulosus the color is similar to that 

 of C. auratus except that it is everywhere strongly suffused with 

 tawny, the black markings are more extended, and the feathers 

 of the white rump patch are closely and irregularly barred with 

 black. Each rump feather in this species has a subterminal 

 broadly cordate black spot extending nearly across both webs. 

 Usually a broad black bar and sometimes a second (the latter 

 always indistinct) crosses the feather below the terminal spot. 

 The proximal bars tend to narrow near the shafts of the feathers, 

 but they seldom if ever break up into pairs of spots as in the 

 abnormal C. auratus. 



The peculiarities of its rump markings make No. 5619 an almost 

 perfect intermediate between Colaptes auratus and C. chrysocaulosus. 

 Did the breeding ranges of these two species overlap this speci- 

 men would probably be considered by many a hybrid, since 

 so-called hybrids often blend the characters of their supposed 

 parents no more perfectly than this Flicker does the peculiarities 

 of the Continental bird and its Cuban representative. 



Nucifraga columbiana ( fF/Z?.). 

 One Clarke's Nutcracker in the series of thirty-three skins in 

 the U. S. National Museum (No. 99858, Mt. Lassen, Calif., June 

 23, 1884) has most of the greater and lesser wing-coverts spotted 

 with white. The spots, though small, form wing bars nearly as dis- 

 tinct as those normally present in the European Nucifraga caryo- 

 catactes. The wing-coverts in adult N. colufnluaiia are normally 

 plain, but the extreme tips in immature birds are usually very pale 

 gray, thus forming a distinct contrast with the rest of the feather. 



Pipilo erythrophthalmus {Vieill.). 

 A Towhee from North Truro, Mass. {$ ad.. No. 4208, Miller 

 collection, August 12, 1889) is normal in all respects except that 



