288 SPHYEAPICUS THYEOIDEUS. 



SPHYEAPICUS THTROIDEUS, (Cass.) Bd. 



Black-breasted or Williamson's Woodpecker. 



Pious iliyrmdeus, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad, v, 1851, 349 ( V ).— Heerm., Jovtrn. Phila. Acad. 



ii, 1653, 270.— SuxD., CoDsp. Av. Pic. 1866, 32. 

 Picas (Sphyrapicus) thyroideus, Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 186, No. 8618. 

 Melanerpes thyroideus. Cass., 111. B. Cal. and Tex. 1854, 201, pi. 32. 

 Pilumnus thyroideus, Bp., Cousp. Vol. Zygod. 1854, 8. 

 Colaptes thyreoideus, Reich., Hand-buch Sp. Orn. 411. 

 Sphyrapious thyroideus, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 106.— Ha-hd., Eep. 1862, 155.— CoUES, Pr. 



Phila. Acad. 1866, 54.— Malh., Mon. Pic. i, 162, pi. 37, f. 2.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 



1870, 394.— Merr., U. S. Geol. Surr. Ter. 1872, 694.— Coues, Key, 1872, 195.— 



Hexsh., Am. Nat. viii, 1874, 242. 

 -^^ Sphyrojaicus thyroideus, B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 547, pi. 56, fig. 6. 

 Cladoscupus thyroideus, Cab. & Heine, Mas. Hein. iv, 1863, 84. 

 "Picus naialice, Malh., J. f. O. 1854, 171." 

 " Centurus natalice, Reich., Hand-buch Sp. Orn. 411." 

 Picus wilUamsoni, Newb., P. R. E. Rep. vl, 1S57, 89, pi. 34, f. 1 ( (? ).— SuND., Consp. At. 



Pic. 1866, 32. 

 Sphyrapicus wilUamsoni, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 105. — Hayd., Rep. 1862, 155. — Malh., Mon. 



Pic. i, 163, pi. 36, f. 4.— CouES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 54.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 



393.— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 180.— Merr., U. S. Geol. Sarv. Ter. 1872, 



694.— Coues, Key, 1872, 195. 

 i6' Sphyrapicus u-itliamsoni, B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 545, pi. 51, fig. 5. 

 Cladoscopus u-illiamHoni, Cab. & Heine, Mua. Hein. iv, 1863, 82. 

 Melanerpes {Cladoscopus) u-illiamsoni, Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 201, No. 8820. 

 Melanerpes rubrigularis, ScL., P. Z. S. 1858, i, pi. 131 ; Ann. ilag. Nat. Hist. 1858, 127 (g). 



Sab. — ^Eocky Mountains to the Pacific, United States. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 8S0:3-04, Laramie Peak, August 24, 1857. 



Later Expeditions. — 62363 ( ^ ), Wyoming ; 62259 (jai-e/i is), Montana. 



The foregoing synonymy will doubtless be viewed with surprise by 

 those not previously aware of Mr. Henshaw's discovery that '■'■william- 

 sonV is the male and ^Hhyroideus''^ the female, of one and the same spe- 

 cies. Xo point ill our ornithology could have been more novel aud 

 unexpected than was Mr. Henshaw's announcement of the fact, which 

 he determined beyond reasonable question, that he found the two sup- 

 posed species ijaired and rearing a family in the same hole. It is not 

 uninstructive now to look back upon the history of the supposed species. 

 In the first place we notice that the two have always been accredited 

 with the same geographical range, and have generally been found to- 

 gether; at least, most papers containing a notice of one, also give the 

 other. Next we observe, in most cases, hesitation and evident uncer- 

 tainty in descriptions of the sexual differences of each supposed species, 

 the female of '■'■ williamsoni" and the male of ''•thyroideus''^ having been 

 groped for indeed, but not found. Nor is there, in the fairly large amount 

 of mPuterial received at the Smithsonian, an unquestionable specimen of 

 the opposite sex of either of the supposed species. As indicating how 

 far we may sometimes go astray, these birds have been placed in several 

 diff'erent genera, so widely have the sexes of one species been dissoci- 

 ated ; while the biographical notices which have appeared are not 

 entirely concordant, showing how much our written history of living 

 birds may be tempered by evidently fortuitous circumstances of observa- 

 tion, or transient impressions of an observer. 



On the systematic position of the species there is no room for ques- 

 tion. Prof. Baird correctly assigned it to the genus Spliyrapiciis, of 

 which it is a typical representative, having all the strong lingual pecul- 

 iarities of S. varius, as I showed in my paper above cited. 



I frequently observed this Woodpecker in the pineries about Fort 

 Whipple, where it is resident and not uncommon, though less abundant 

 than either the Melanerpes formicivonis or Colaptes mexicanus. It ap- 

 Digitized by Microsoft® 



