PIOID.E -THE AVOODl'ECKERS. 5g3 



at tip, or black at baa^ and red at tip, etc. As tlie subject lias been pre- 

 sented in sutlicicnt ci .il in the Dirds of Xorth America, an (juoted above, 

 it need not be lepeated here, except to say that collections received since 

 ISoS only substantiate what has there been stateil. 



To the race thus noted, the name hyhridus was given, not as of a variety, 

 since it is not entitled to this rank, but iis of a heterogeneous mixture, caused 

 by the breeding together of two different species, and re([uiring some ajipella- 

 tion. Whether the presumed hybrids are fertile, and breed with each -ithcr or 

 with full-blooded parents, has not yet been ascertained ; perhaps not, since 

 the area in which they occur is limited, and it is only occasionally that 

 individiuils of the kind referred to have been found beyond the bounds men- 

 tioned. It is very rarely, however, tliat jnu'e breeds occur in the district of 

 hyhridus, a tauit being generally apprecialile in all. 



The conditions in the present instance a))pear dilferent from those adverted 

 to under the head of Picus rillostis, where 'Jie question is not one of hybridism 

 between two strongly marked and distinct species, but of the gradual change, 

 between the Atlantic and the Tacitic, from one pattern of coloration to an- 

 other. 



Colaptes chrysoides, Male. 



THE CAFE FLICKEB. 



(icopicus chrysoides, Malii. Ucv. vX Mag. Zool. IV, 1852, .553. — In. Jlon. Pic. II, 201, 

 tab. 109. Colaptes chrysoides, Baiiiu, Birds N. Am. 1858, 125. — Elliot, 111. Birds 

 N. Am. VI, i<lat(\ — (\(oi'Kn, Vr. Cal. Ac. ISlil, 122 (Fort MohavcK — Corns, Pr. 

 A. N. Sc. 18G6, 56 (Arizona). —S<i,. Cat. 1862, 344. — Elliot, Illust. Am. B. I, jil. 

 x>vi. — Cooi'F.it, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 410. Picus chrysoiJci, Su.ndevall, Coiisi). 72. 



Sp. CiiAK. Markiiiffs generally as in other speoies. Top of head nifons-brown ; chin, 

 throat, and sides of head ash-gray. Sliafts of iinills and tail-feathers, with their iiiuler 

 surfaces in great part, gainboge-yollow ; no nnchal red. Malar patch of male red ; want- 

 ing in the female. Length, 11. ")0; wing, 5.7") ; tail, 4.">0. 



Had. Colorado and Gila River, north to Fort Mohave, south to Cai)e St. Lucn.s. Locali- 

 ties: Fort Mohave (Cooi-ek, Pr. Cal. Ac. 18G1, 122); W. Arizona (CocES, P. A. N. S 

 1860, 50). 



This interesting species is intermediate between auratvs and inc.i'icauii.i in 

 having the yellow shafts and quills of the former; a red malar jiatcli, an 

 ashy throat, and no nuchal crescent, as in the latter. To nifjiaoioidcs the 

 relationship is still closer, since both have the rufous-brown head above. A 

 hybrid between tiiis last species and anratus would in some varieties come 

 very near vhrjinoidcs, but as it does not belong to the region of chri/soidca, 

 and there is no transition from one species to the other in any specimens, as 

 in Jii/hridus, there is no occasion to take this view of tlie species. 



Cape St. Lucas specimens, where the species is exceedingly abundant, are 

 considerably smaller than those from Arizona, and aj)pear to be more strongly 



