502 



NORTH AMERICAN JJIRDS. 



tail-feathers nioru or loss wliito, with n few bars of black near their 

 ends, i)riiK'i|ially on inner webs. Ilah. South Aliiintic States. 



Ba I3o(ly entirely (•oiuinuoiis l)huk; head all round innnaeulale white. First 



quill shorter than sixth. 



X^NOPICUS, liAMiii. Tail and primarica as in "A," but much more 

 lengtiiened. Hill as in Dri/olxilci, but more slender. 



(). P. albolarvatua. Red ol' nuile a narrow transverse oceijiital 

 ere.seent, between the white and tlie bhiek. Basal halt", or more, of 

 primaries variejjjated with white, this continuous nearly to the 

 end of out(>r webs ; inner webs of secondaries with larg;e white 

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

 PaciWc Province, United States. 



SuBOExrs DRYOBATEB, Boik 



Dri/obafcs, Boii:, lS'2ti. (Type, I'ifus jikIhuciiix, Jidr VxnAfiis, Mas. Hoin.) 



Trk/iopicus, HoNAT. IS;')!. 



Trulwpipo, Caii. & Hki.n. Mus. Hoiii. 18(33, 02. 



According to Cabanis, as nliovo cited, Drijohntcft, as Gstal>lislicd l\v Boic in 

 ISl'G, had the Picus imhcMrns as ty])o, although oxteiided in 1828 to cover a 

 much wider ground. ^Vs a subgeneric name, therol'orc, it must take prei- 

 erence of Tricliopinia of Iionaparte, whicli, like all the allied names of this 

 author, (cabanis rejects at any rate as hybrid and inadmissible. 



The syno])sis under the head of ricus will serve to distinguish the 

 species in lirief. 



The small black and white Woodpeckci-s oi' North America exhil)it great 



variations in size and markings, and it 

 is extremely difiicidt to say what is a 

 distinct species and what a mere goo- 

 graithical race. In none of our birds is 

 the dilference in size between specimens 

 from a higli and a low latitude so great, 

 and numertms nominal species hove been 

 established on tliis ground idone. There 

 is also much variation with locidity in 

 the amount of white sjiotting on the 

 wings, as well as the companitive width 

 of the white and bltick bars in the banded 

 species. The under ])arts, too, vary from 

 pure white to smoky-brown. To these 

 variations in what may be cimsidered as 

 good speci(!S is to be added the i'urther ]>er]tlexities caused by hybridism, 

 wliich seems to jji-evail to an unusual extent among some Woodpeckers, 

 wiiere tlu; area of distribution of one species is overlajjped by a close tilly. 

 This, M-hich ctm be most satisfactorily demonstrated in the Co/npfm, is also 



^-f%^ 



Piius fiarn'si. 



