50 LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



becomes more opaque. Like all Woodpeckers' eggs, they are pure white and 

 unspotted. 



The average measurement of twenty -nine specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 23.65 by 17.94 millimetres, or about 0.93 by 0.71 

 inch. The largest egg of the series measures 25 91 by 18.80 millimetres, or 1.02 

 by 0.74 inches; the smallest, 20.57 by 16.26 millimetres, or 0.81 by 0.64 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 24721 (not figured), from a set of five eggs, was 

 taken by Dr. William L. Ralph near Holland Patent, Oneida County, New York, 

 on May 5, 1891. 



17. Dryobates villosus leucomelas (Bodd^rt). 



NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



Picus leucomelas Bodujert, Table des Planches Enluminees d'Histoire Naturelle, 1783, 21. 



Dryobates villosus leucomelas Ridgway, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, VIII, 1SS5, 355. 



(B 74, part; C 298, part; R 360a; C 438, part; U 393a.) 



Geographical range: Northern North America; from about latitude 49° in the 

 eastern parts of the Dominion of Canada north to about latitude 06°, and probably still 

 farther in the interior; west to eastern Alaska; south, in winter only (?), to the northern 

 border of the United States. 



The breeding range of the Northern Hairy Woodpecker, also known as the 

 "Great White-backed Sapsucker" and "Phillips's Woodpecker," a somewhat 

 larger race, and usually with a greater amount of white in its plumage than the 

 preceding, is probably coextensive with its geographical distribution; it also 

 appears to be resident wherever found. Mr. B. R. Ross, of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, took a male near Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie River, in latitude 

 62° N., on December 29, 1860, and Mr. McQuesten obtained a female at Fort Reli- 

 ance, on the upper Yukon, in Alaska, in about latitude 66° N., on September 15, 

 1878; both of these -specimens are now in the United States National Museum. 

 North of latitude 56° it is reported to be rare, and it is not often met with near 

 the coast in Alaska. Prof. Winfrid A. Stearns reports taking a specimen of 

 Dryobates villosus in Labrador on October 28, 1882, exact locality not stated, 

 which is unquestionably referable to this race; but Mr. L. M. Turner, during his 

 sojourn of several years in Ungava, failed to meet with it, and it is probably rare 

 throughout this region. It is reported as a common resident of British Colum- 

 bia, east of the Cascades, and in the Rocky Mountain sections, by Mr. John 

 Fannin. 



While stationed at Fort Custer, Montana, I took several specimens during 

 the winter of 1884-85, which I referred to Dryobates villosus; one of these skins, a 

 fine male, taken on April 19, 1885, is now in the United States National Museum 

 collection, and this is a perfectly typical example of the northern race. It is 

 therefore possible that it breeds in limited numbers along our northern border, 

 but it may only have been a late straggler. I shot it in a cottonwood grove 

 on the Big Horn River. 



