PICID.E — THE WOODPECKERS. 505 



var. harrisi. A spcciineu collected by Mr. Hepburn at Caribou, on the. Upper 

 Fra.scr, is absolutely uudistiuguishable from typical P. caiuulcnuis in size 

 and marking: 



We now come to the western race or variety, hardly to be called species, 

 tlie J\ harrisi of Audubon. Here tiie e.vtreme of condition most opjic^sod to 

 typical rilloHHS is shown by the entire absence of white on the exposed sur- 

 i'ace of the wing, except on the outer webs of the four or five longest prima- 

 ries, where the spots are very small. (We have never seen them entirely 

 wanting.) The white of the back, too, may be norm.Ti in amount, or else 

 nmch restricted. Concealed white spots on some of the feathers will lie 

 .seen on raising them. The white of tail-feathers sometimes shows black 

 spots or blotches, es))ecially on the inner web of the second. These features 

 belong more esjjecially to specimens from the coast region of Oregon and 

 Washington. 



Proceeding eastward irom the Northern Pacific Coast we next find speci- 

 mens showing a few white streaks on the greater coverts and ne.\.t on the 

 middle coverts. The spots on the secondaries, too, begin to show themselves; 

 but as a general rule they do not occur on the innernios*^^ of the greater 

 coverts and of the secondaries. This, therefore, may be considered as the 

 limit of a variety, characterized by the absence at lealit of sjiots in these 

 members of the wing. 



With the variation in spo*s in the westein variety we have, as already 

 remarked, differences in amount of white on the tail and the back, as well as 

 in the color of the belly, which is sometimes ])ure white, sometimes of a 

 smoky gray; this latter variation not at all parallel with other dilferences or 

 with geographical distribution, and ecpially observable in eastern vi/fosna. 

 The size, too, varies somewhat, but not to the same extent as on the Atlantic 

 side. Here, however, we have Pirns Jarrl in i of ^lexico and Central America, 

 as the small southern race, almolutely undistinguishable from dark-breasted 

 Oregon specimens, except in size (length, 7.00 ; wing, 3.90 ; bill aliove, .85), 

 and perhaps a more fulvous tinge on the under j)arts. The specimens before 

 me have one or two black spots on the inner web of the next to the outer 

 tail-feather, as in darker varieties of hnrrvii, I)ut these are not symmetrical 

 or constant in either, and are to b(; looked on as mere indications of the 

 general tendency to melanism. 



H.vniTS. This common and familiar species of Woodpecker has an ex- 

 tei'ded range throughout eastern North America. Sjtecimens in the Smith- 

 .sonian Institution iiave been collected from almost eve»7 portion of North 

 America east of the Pocky ]\Iountains. AVilson s]ieaks of it as connnon 

 tln'oughout the (Mmtinent from Hudson's Bay to Carolina and Georgia. Mr. 

 Audvd)on, wlio regarded Pinin martina', P. 2^liillipsi, and /'. camukn.sis as dis- 

 tinct species, instead of varieties of this Woodpecker, states, in regard to its dis- 

 tribution, that the P. ri/lonin is a constant resident both in the maritime and 

 inland districts from Texas to New Hampshire, as well as in all the wooth'il 



vor.. M. C4 



