1910] Grinnell.—Birds: Alaska Expedition, 1908. Boll 
DistriputTion.—The narrow humid coast region of southern 
and southeastern Alaska: Kadiak Id. (?) ; Kenai Peninsula; coast 
and islands of Prince William Sound; Sitka (?). The ques- 
tioned localities are record stations for a downy woodpecker of 
presumably this form, but I have not personally examined speci- 
mens. See remarks below quoted. 
RemarKs.—The D. p. nelsoni of the great Alaskan interior is 
a large, extremely white form, from which D. p. glacialis is dis- 
tinguishable at a glance by the extension of dark areas and 
markings, notably the complete barring of the tail. Yet from 
the extreme dark form of pubescens (gairdnert), glacialis is just 
as readily separable on the grounds outlined above. Interme- 
diateness may be aseribed to the new form if one speaks roughly ; 
but an examination shows an uneven sharing of characters. 
That this is not the first time peculiarities have been noted 
in downy woodpeckers of the coast district of southern Alaska 
is shown by the following references. Oberholser, in discussing 
his newly named Dryobates pubescens nelsoni (Proc. U. 8. Nat. 
Mus., XVIII, 1895, p. 549) says: ‘‘Three birds from Kadiak 
are smaller than all but one of the other Alaskan specimens, and 
have more black on the outer tail feathers.’’ And again (1. ¢.): 
‘“Of the 15 specimens [of D. p. nelsoni] above mentioned, only 
one (no. 95275, U. S. N. M., from Kadiak) shows dark markings 
on the under tail-coverts equaling in amount those on average 
examples of D. pubescens.’’ Chapman (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 
Hist., XVI, 1902, p. 239) says of the two specimens taken at 
Tlomer, Kenai Peninsula, although listed under the name Dryo- 
bates pubescens nelsoni, ‘‘indistinguishable from the average 
eastern specimens of *‘Dryobates pubescens medianus.’ 
These latter two examples, from Homer, and another, from 
Moose Camp, also on the Kenai Peninsula, are through the cour- 
tesy of Mr. Chapman and the American Museum of Natural 
History now before me. Although labeled ‘‘nelsoni,’’ they are 
certainly not that form. They are in fact intermediate towards 
glacialis, and much nearer the latter. They are smaller than 
nelsoni with slightly less amount of white and, in the two from 
Homer, with distinct smoky suffusion beneath. 
