olO NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



• 



Sp. Char. A ininiatiiro nf P. villosus. Al>i)ve Mack, with a white band down the 

 hack. Two white stri|M's on the side of the liead ; the lower ol" opposite sides always 

 .separated l»ehiiid, the upper soinetiriies conliiient on the nape. Two stripes of hlack 

 on the sitle of the head, the lower not nnniing into the forehead. Heneatli white; all 

 the middle and <,Meater coverts and all the (piiils with white spots, the lur^'er coverts 

 with two series each ; tertiaries or inner secondaries all banded with white. Two outer 

 tail-feathers white, with two bands of Ijlack at end; third white at tip and externally, 

 erissuin sometimes spotted with Itlack. Len.L'th, about O.'io ; winjr, 3.75. Mule with red, 

 terminatinfjf the wliite feathers on the nape. Youny with whole top of head red. 



Hap.. Eastern United States, towards the eastern slope of the Koekv M(»nntains, into 

 Uri'iish Coluuibia and the Iluiuboldt Mountains, and north to the limits of the woods; 

 along whole Yukon River ; perhaps to the Pacific. norMi of the 4!ith parallel: K<»diak. 

 Localities : San Antonio, Te.\;us ( DuLSstu, Ibis, I8G0, 4l»8). Accidental iii England. 



The remarks already made on the variation of Picics rillosus apply ej^iially 

 well here ; all the differences in size and markings with locality being almost 

 exactly reproduced. Tlie western variety, /'. guirdncri, is equally uncertain 

 in characters as /*. harrisi, and as little entitled to specific distinction. As 

 in the previous instance, we shall call typical j^ifhesccm those specimens in 

 which all the middle and greater C(jverts and all the (piills including the 

 innermost secondaries are spotted with white, while those in which any of 

 these feathers, whether all the coverts, as in Oregon birds, or only a few of 

 them, are unspotted, may he called var. fjairdmri. 



Of typical puhcsccns in tlie Eastern States there are minor variations, but 

 not of much account. Thus the forehead itself, apart from the white nasal 

 tufts, is sometimes wliite, connecting with the white superciliary stripe ; 

 more frequently, however, the whole forehead is black. Northern specimens 

 are larger and have larger white spots, and not unfrequently the black cheek- 

 stripe is invaded anteriorly by white, which, however, is appreciable at the 

 base of the feathers. The black bars on the tail are much restricted in 

 specimens from the Yukon. Southern specimens are smaller and darker, 

 w^th smaller spots on the wings. 



In all the changes of the two species, there is no difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing P. 2^i(hescens from P. villosus by the black bars on outer tail-feathers of 

 the former, and their absence in the latter. The crissum oi j^uhesrens is some- 

 times somewhat sjjotted with blackish. The white markings on the coverts 

 are larger in proportion, and there are almost always two series of wdiite 

 spots on the greater coverts, as in northern varieties of villosus, not one, as 

 in most of those from the Middle States. 



Habits. This s])ecies, like the Hairy Woodpecker, is a resident rather 

 than a migratory species, and breeds wherever it is met with. It also seems 

 to have very nearly the same geographical distribution with that species. Dr. 

 Woodhouse found it common throughout the Indian Territory, Texas, and 

 New^ ^Mexico. It does not, however, appear to have been collected by any 

 of the parties engaged in the Pacific Railroad surveys, nor by that upon 

 the survey of the ^lexican boundary. Of seventeen specimens given by 



