

250 TAVERNER, Birds of Red Deer River, Alia. [ A A p u r u 



breeder. The former refers the local form to D. p. nelsoni, probably on 

 geographical grounds for we have an Edmonton specimen, August 13, 1886, 

 that has been identified by Oberholser as homorus. A female, Red Deer, 

 April 19, 1916 in Fleming's collection agrees so closely with larger speci- 

 mens from New Brunswick and eastern Ontario that I see no grounds for 

 separating it from them and following Oberholser's determination of a 

 E: nff bird August 13, 1891, ascribe it to D. p. medianus. 



83. Picoides arcticus. ARCTIC THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. Under 

 the subspecific designation, P. a. arcticus, Bangs lists five specimens, with- 

 out date (collections of Wm. Brewster, and E. A. and O. Bangs) from Red 

 Deer, Auk, XVII, 1900, -139. 



84. Picoides americanus. AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 

 Mr. Farley reports taking a specimen in winter at Red Deer. He makes 

 no subspecific determination. Geographically P. a. fasciatus is the proba- 

 bility. 



85.* Sphyrapicus varius. YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER Quite 

 common on the upper parts of the river but as the country grew more 

 arid it became scarcer and none were seen below Camp 5. One specimen, 

 a female with black cap, Camp 1, June 30. Horsbrough records it breed- 

 ing. 



86. Phloeotomus pileatus. PILEATED WOODPECKER. Farley say 

 he knows of a lew having been killed at Red Deer in winter. 



87.* Colaptes auratus. FLICKER. Common throughout the river 

 ap ar as we travelled. Of the four birds taken by us and by Geo. Stern- 

 berg at Morrin but one is a pure auratus, the remaining specimens all having 

 slight to strong traces of cafer blood indicated by the color of the large 

 shafts, the graying of the throat or red in the black moustache. Near 

 Camp 1, Young saw what he thought to be a red-shafted Flicker and 

 doubtless birds that are more strongly cafer exist in the region, though 

 auratus seems to be the predominating influence. Two birds, May 2 and 

 July 17 Red Deer in Fleming's collection are pure auratus. Farley says 

 he has seen nothing at either Red Deer or Camrose that he can ascribe to 

 cafer. It would seem that the cafer influence is farther reaching on the 

 lower than the upper parts of the river. Horsbrough on a guarded sug- 

 gestion from Fleming refers his specimens to C. a. borealis. 



88.* Chordeiles virginianus. NIGHTHAWK. Though rather rare 

 at Camp 1, the Nighthawk became more abundant as we descended the 

 river. None could be collected however, until Camp 11 was reached, where 

 breeding birds were also noted. Our single bird, July 30, is considerably 

 lighter even than several hesperis as identified by Dr. Oberholser. I 

 therefore tentatively refer it to sennetti. I suspect that this is the form 

 of the arid southern sections, as a Red Deer Bird collected by Sternberg, 

 June 4, 1915, is evidently virginianus, as is another from Banff determined 

 by Oberholser. 



89. Archilochus or Selasphorus. HUMMINGBIRD. Mr. Farley 

 reports having seen one Hummingbird at Red Deer the summer of 1892. 



