"^•;o 



XORTH AMKKICAX DIRDS. 



Picoides arcticus, (Jkay. 



THE BLACK-BACKED THBEE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



Piroiilts nntinis. 



Sp. Char. Almvo fiitiit'ly iin'!"* ni i;loss\' liluish-Mack ; jv stjuan' jtatcli on the niitldlr 



oltlic rrowii salVroii-ycllow. and a (I'W 

 ' wliit»> spots on ihf oiiUT oiIltcs of '>oth 



wclis ol" l.it' j»riniary and secondary 

 fjnills. InMicatli wliito. on the sides of 

 wliol*' liody. axillai's. and inner \vii;i:-- 

 coverts handed transversely with Mark. 

 Crissuni white, with a few spots an- 

 teriorly. A nai-row eoncraled white 

 line from the eye a short distance l>ai-k- 

 waids. and a white stripe from the 

 extreme forehead (niei-tint: anteriorly) 

 nnder the eye. and down the sides ol' 

 the neck, bordered below by a narrow 

 stripe of blaek. l>ristly feathers of the 

 base of the bill brown ; sometimes a 

 few irray intermixed. Mxpt ised port ion 

 of two outer • ail-feathers (Ih'st and 



sec(Mid) white : the third ol'li([nely white at end, tipped wiili Itlaek. Sometimes these 



feathers with a narrow blaek \i\\ 



IIah. Northern North America; sonth to northern boiiU'rs of rnited States in winter. 



Massaehnsetts (M avnai{i>. B. E. Mass., 1870, 12J>)- Sierra Nevada, south to 31)°. Lak.- 



Tahoi' (CooPKi:); Caison City (lliitcuAv). 



Tills sjuTit's (lilTt'is fiuiii ilie otlier Aii;e''icaii tliroe-tood AVoo(l])eokers 

 cliicHy ill ImviiiLi; the Icjck entirely black. The white line from the eye is 

 usually almost inmerceptihle, if not wanting entirely. Sj)eeiniens vary veiy 

 little: one from Slave Lake has a loiiuer hill than usiuil, and the top of 

 head more oian^e. The size of the vertex patch varies ; sometimes tlic 

 frontal vrhitish is innpprecinhle. Xone of the females before me have any 

 w]iit(^ sjt(»ts in tlie hhick of head, as in tliat of cnnerkan}!^. 



The variati<»ns in tliis species are verv sli-'ht, hein^ chi«'flv in the shade of 

 the yellow ]»atch on the crown, wliich varies from a siiljdmr tint to a rich 

 oraiii^'e. Sometimes there is the faintest trace of a whitish ])ost-ocnlar 

 streak, hut usually this is wholly absent. Western and Eastern examjdcs 

 npjiear to be identical. 



