BIRDS PICIDAE C0LAPTE8 HYBEIDUS. 123 



The first striking deviation from tlie characters of the C. auratus is seen in the variety de- 

 scribed by Audubon as Colaptes ayresii. Here (5214, Fort Pierre) the general characters 

 are those of auratus, the lilac or purplish brown throat, the ashy head, the olivaceous green 

 shade of the back, the gamboge yellow quills, &c. The cheek patch, however, is bright car- 

 mine red, and the nuchal crescent of much less extent, though quite conspicuous. The fourth 

 quill is longest ; the fifth and third successively a little shorter. There are, however, faint 

 indications of black spots in the red of the cheeks. 



A previous stage, however, is indicated in 5224, from White Earth river, where the only 

 aberration from the C. auratus is seen in a faint indication of red in the upper part of the 

 black cheek patch. The fourth quill is longest ; the third and sixth about equal. No. 5603, 

 from the Little Blue, has the black and red of the cheek patch so nearly intermixed as to render 

 it difficult to say which color predominates, the feathers being black, with red tips. 



Another variety, but little different, consists in having a bluish ash on the throat and under 

 the eye as in C. mexicanus, instead of lilac brown. There is only a trace of red on the nape. 

 (6158, Milk river. Neb.) 



In 4639, from Fort Pierre, the nuchal crescent is large, the cheek patch red and black. The 

 approach to 0. mexicanus is shown by the yellow of the quills having an orange tinge almost 

 intermediate between the two. The throat and under the eye are ash color, not lilac brown. 

 Other specimens of the same general character have the shafts either more yellow or more 

 orange. 



The variety nearest the C mexicanus is seen in some specimens, as (5213) from the Yellow- 

 stone, where the shafts and quills are of nearly the typical orange, the cheek patches red. The 

 back is, however, that of the C. auratus ; the nape has a very distinct band of red ; the red of 

 the cheeks has a few specks of black. No. 5212 has more black in the cheek patch, and the 

 whole top of the head tinged with red. 



To illustrate more fully this combination of characters of the two species in the numerous 

 specimens before me, I have prepared the following tables, the first serving as a key to the 

 second. Thus, by a I reier, in the second table, to the peculiarities of cheek patches ; by 6 to 

 those of the shafts, &c. Where a letter is found in the column of either species opposite a 

 particular specimen it shows that this has the particular character of the species. Where 

 the letters occur in both columns it shows that both characters co-exist in the specimen. Where 

 figures are combined with the letters it indicates the proportion. Thus 1 a under G. auratus, 

 and 8 a under 0. mexicanus, show that the specimen has three times as much red in the cheek 

 patches as black. 



In a large number of young Flickers, from the upper Missouri, (as 5215, 5216, 5217, 5218, 

 5220, 5222, 5223) the character of O. mexicanus is seen in the entire absence of red on the 

 nape. The cheek patches promise to be black ; the shafts mostly yellowish ; some with orange 

 tinge. In a similar series from Kansas and the Platte (5605 and 5609) the nuchal band and 

 black cheek patch, with the yellow shafts, are very distinct. 



Malherbe describes a Colaptes chrysoides from America as similar to G. auratus, but smaller, 

 and without a nuchal red collar. This is the characteristic of many immature birds of the 

 hybridus type from the upper Missouri, and Malherbe' s species differs but little from these. If 

 . from a remote locality, however, it may be distinct, and it is not improbable that the bird de- 

 scribed in the next article belongs to it. 



