466 Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 



(2) Upon page 93, after quoting some of my observations 

 upon Coliqites mexicanus, Mr, Allen remarks : — " He cites 

 birds from Vancouver and Nevada that resemble others from 

 Mexico. Has it occurred to him that the North-American 

 forms of Colaptes are migratory birds, that the particular 

 examples mentioned from Mexico are either winter specimens 

 or without record of capture, and that distribution in the 

 breeding-season is one of the most important elements of 

 the problem ? '•* I cannot well have read the many learDcd 

 and instructive works by American authors without being 

 aware that the North- American Colaptee do migrate, and I 

 do not regard Mr. Allen's query as a complimentary one. 

 As to the assertion that the examples from Mexico (mentioned 

 by me) are either winter specimens or without record of 

 capture, I reply that nearly all the Mexican examples men- 

 tioned in the * Catalogue ' were not only collected throughout 

 almost the entire country by trustworthy men, but are dated 

 January, February, March, April, June, July, August, Sep- 

 tember, and December. Some of these dates surely do not 

 point to the birds being winter specimens. Does Mr. Allen 

 wish us to understand that these so-called winter specimens 

 are migrants ? I mention this, because special attention is 

 drawn to the interesting features of distribution during the 

 breeding-season. Migration could not reduce the measure- 

 ments of the species. 



(3) Mr. Allen states that Melanerpes " melanopogon is a 

 pure synonym of fonnicivor'us, Swains., as well from the 

 original description and figure as from the locality of the 

 type.'' The locality is simply " Le Mexique,'' not very definite, 

 certainly, when both forms are found in that country. The 

 figure is, I admit, not typical ; but birds not purely typical 

 must occur where there is intergradation, and Mr. Allen 

 must acknowledge that a difiiculty sometimes arises in deter- 

 mining upon which side to place certain intermediate forms. 



(4) In objecting to the use of the generic title Dendrocopus, 

 Koch, in place of Dryobates, Boie, Mr. Allen makes the fol- 

 lowing remark : — " This point was well considered by the 

 A.O.U. Committee, and Dendrocopos, Koch, was found to be 



