WOODPECKERS. 333 



Audubon considered them " like those of some small quadru- 

 ped suffering great pain " ; but I have never heard the " shrill, 

 harsh, rattling cry " which Dr. Cooper ascribes to this species. 

 Authors must, however, necessarily differ in their descriptions 

 of what it is nearly impossible to describe satisfactorily. 



B. AMERICANUS. Banded Three-toed Woodpecker. 

 Much rarer in New England than the last species.* 



a. Essentially like the Black-backed Woodpecker (-4), but 

 with the back banded by white. 



b. " The nest and eggs do not differ from those of P. arc- 

 ticus." 



c. The Banded Three-toed Woodpeckers have an arctic 

 (or circumpolar) distribution, and in New England are rarer 

 than even the Black-backed Woodpeckers. They have not 

 been captured in Massachusetts, except in a few isolated in- 

 stances, of which I find only one recorded. They probably 

 breed in northern New England to a limited extent, since 

 " Mr. Brewster took two adult males at Gorham, July 30th, 

 1870, and one at Umbagog the first week in June, 1871." 

 Mr. Maynard says : " I took a single specimen at Errol, Octo- 

 ber 31st, 1869. This species has a harsh, discordant note." 

 Audubon never saw these Woodpeckers, and drew his figures 

 from specimens lent him by the Council of the Zoological So- 

 ciety of London. I have scarcely been more fortunate, hav- 

 ing seen but one. This was on the roadside, not far from the 

 Glen House in the White Mountains, and in August. Dur- 

 ing the momentary glimpse which I then had, I observed no- 

 thing peculiar in his habits. I have never found their nest or 

 seen their eggs. 



V. DRYOBATES. 



A. VILLOSUS. Hairy Woodpecker. Not common in 



* Although this Woodpecker has icut River, it is not so very uncommon 



practically the same general range in for a bird of its solitary and retiring 



New England as P. arcticus, it is in disposition. It is one of the rarest of 



most places very much less numerous, the irregular winter visitors to Massa- 



Among the White Mountains, however, chusetts. W. B. 

 and about the sources of the Connect- 



