502 



NOUTH AMKUICAN JilUDS. 



tiiil-featluTs inoie di* loss wiiito, with a low b.irs of l)lack near their 

 onds, princiiially on inner wel>s. Jlah. South Atlantic States. 



B* Body cntiii'ly continuous l»l;uk ; head all round iinniacidate white. First 



quill shorter than sixth. 



XENOPICUS, ]>An:i>. Tail and primaries as in " A," but much more 

 lengthened. IJill as in Dnjobutcs^ hut more slender. 



(j. P. albolcirvatus. lied of male a narrow transverse occipital 

 crescent, between the white and the black. Basal half, or more, of 

 primaries variegated with white, this contimious nearly to the 

 end of outer webs; inner webs of secondaries with large white 

 spots toward their base. Hah. Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, 

 Paciiic Province, Uiiited States. 



Subgenus DRYOBATES, Boie. 



Dri/obafcs, BoiK, 1826. (Tyiw, Picus pnlMscnis, Ji fir CAJiAyii>>, Mas. Iloin.) 



Trichopicns, Bonap. 18.')4. 



Trkhopipo, Cai-.. & Hkin. Mas. Hein. 1863, 62. 



Accui'diiig to Cabaiiis, as al)ove cited, Dri/ohafcs, as estaMished l\v Boie in 

 182G, had the I'icK,'^ 2)ifhi.'it'cns as type, although extended in 1828 to cover a 

 much wider ground. As a siibgeneric name, therefore, it must take pref- 

 erence of Trichopicns of r>onaparte, whicli, like all the allied names of this 

 author, Cahanis rejects at any rate as hvbrid and inadmissible. 



The syno])sis under the head of J^iciis will serve to distinguish the 

 species in brief. 



Tlie small black and white Woodpeckers of Xorth America exhil)it great 



variati(»ns in size and markings, and it 

 is extremely difficult to say what is a 

 distinct species and what a mere geo- 

 grajihical race. In none of our birds is 

 the difference in size between specimens 

 from a high and a low latitude so great, 

 and numerous nominal species have been 

 established on this ground alone. There 

 is also much variation with locality in 

 the amount of white spotting on tl:e 

 wings, as well as the comparative w4dth 

 of the white and l)lack bars in the banded 

 si)ecies. Tlie under parts, too, vary frou) 

 pure white to smoky-brown. To these 

 variations in what may be considered as 

 good species is to be added the further })erplexities caused by hybridism, 

 which seems to prevail to an unusual extent among some Woodpeckers, 

 where the area of distribution of one species is overlaj)ped by a close ally. 

 Tliis, which can be most satisfactorily demonstrated in tlie CoJaptc^i, is also 





Pirns harri'si. 



