CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 33/ 



year. It could scarcely be called common. (Grinnell.) Appar- 

 ently common at Cook inlet, Alaska, 1900. Quite rare at the base 

 of the Alaskan peninsula, only two seen in 1902. (Osgood.) One 

 specimen collected at Homer, Kenai peninsula, Alaska, was the 

 only one observed. It is undoubtedly rare as the natives had never 

 seen the species before. (Figgins.) One taken at Haines and one at 

 Glacier, Alaska; noted or taken at several places in the Yukon 

 valley. (Bishop.) 



Breeding Notes. — According to Oliver Davis' "Nests and Eggs 

 of N. A. Birds," nothing has been published regarding the nest and 

 eggs of this species. It therefore gives me pleasure to make the 

 following record of a set in my collection of five eggs which were 

 taken with the parent bird on May 29th, 1897, at Peel river that 

 runs into the mouth of the Mackenzie river. Nest, a hole in a coni- 

 ferous tree about ten feet from the ground. The eggs average 

 •90 X "65. The Rev. I. O. Stringer secured the parent and found 

 its crop filled with seeds and worms. (W. Raine.) 



4016. Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Picoides americanus dorsalis Baird. 1870. 



A specimen of what I consider to be this species was procured 

 at Fort Norman on the Mackenzie river. (Ross.) Mountains 

 east of Coast range; north to Cassiar. (Fannin.) A specimen of 

 this form was taken at Huntingdon in the Fraser river valley on 

 the 49th parallel, on October 4th, 1901 ; one observed at Femie, 

 B.C., April 25th, 1904. (Spreadborough.) What was likely this 

 species was observed on the shore of Shuswap lake, above Kamloops, 

 B.C., in June, 1889. The bird had a nest in a dead tree, and was a 

 three-toed woodpecker with a white back. A specimen was not 

 obtained. (Macoun.) This form is known to range from Fort 

 Kenai and the southeastern Alaskan coast and Fort Simpson on 

 the Mackenzie river (lat. 62°) south to Oregon and Arizona. In 

 well plumaged summer birds a longfitudinal white band begins with 

 the nuchal collar and extends down the back to the rump, with no 

 trace, or at most a very slight one, of transverse barring. (Nelson.) 

 This form is abundant in the interior wherever there are wooded 

 districts. It rarely visits the vicinity of St. Michael. (Turner.) 

 22 



