412 PICID^. 



M. a. s. pauper. And even further as regards Mr, Ridgway's M. led, which was at one 

 time called M. dubius leei ; for M. dubius, through the connection of M. santacruzi, is 

 M. aunfrons santacruzi dubius, and hence M. leei becomes Melanerpes aurifrons santa- 

 cruzi dubius leei ! By making M. santacruzi the central form, one of these names may be 

 eliminated at the cost of strict priority, but M. leei would still be left with four names. 

 Mr. Eidgway, when compiling his ' Manual of North- American Birds,' seems to have 

 seen all this difficulty, for he calls the whole of the members of this section of the 

 genus by simple binomials. But what, then, has become of the intergradation, the 

 existence of which he so strongly insisted upon in his first paper, and which is probably- 

 much more evident to us now than it was to him at the time % 



a. Dorsum nigrum, coerulescenti-chalybeo lavatum. 



1. Melanerpes formicivoms. 



Picus formicivorus, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 439 (1837) ^ ; Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 515 ^ 



Melanerpes formicivorus, Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 109'; Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, pp. 143*, 307'; 1858, 

 p. 305"; 1859, p. 367"; Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 60'; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 137'; 

 Cab. J. f. Orn. 1862, p. 322"; Duges, La Nat. i. p. 139"; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. 

 p. 131''; Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 294"; BuU. U. S. Nat. Mns. no. 4, p. 35"; 

 V. Frantz. J. f . Orn. 1869, p. 364 " ; Sumiehrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. i. p. 562 " ; La Nat, 

 V. p. 240"; Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, p, 213 ''; Cat. Strickl. CoU. p. 397"; Boucard, P. Z. S, 

 1878, p. 49 '" ; Eidgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 497 =' ; x. p. 591 '^ ; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U. S, 

 Nat. Mus. ix. p. 159='; Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Eica, 1887, p. 124"; Hargitt, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. pp. 149, 569 ". 



Picus melanopogon, Temm. PI. Col. 451 (1828) ='; Wagl. Isis, 1829, p. 515". 



Picus melanopogon, Licht. Preis-Verz. mex. Vog. p. 1 (c/. J. f. Orn. 1863, p. 55) ^, 



Melanerpes melanopogon, Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 151 *', 



Melanerpes formicivorus, y ax. formicivorus, Baird, Brew., & Eidgw. N. Am. Birds, ii. p, 566'°. 



Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi, Coues, Check-1. N. Am. Birds, p. 79 '^ 



Supra chalybeo-niger, uropygio et tectricibua supracaudalibus niveis his strictissime nigro hmbatis ; capite 

 summo et nucha coccineis, fronte postica et torque gutturah (linea ante oculos conjunctis) albis, hac flavo 

 suffuso, fronte antica et gula antica nigris ; pectore nigro chalybeo squamato, parte postica et hypochon- 

 driis utrinque albo limbatis, illiua plumis in pectore medio macula alba in pogonio interne tantum notatis 

 ciliis omnibus nigris, ventre medio albo ; aUs et cauda nigris, illis speculo alari albo, remigibus omnibus 

 ad basin in pogonio intemo albis, subalaribus nigro et albo variegatis; rostro et pedibus nigris. 

 Long, tota 8-5, alae 6-0, caudse 3-35, rostri a rictu 1-3, tarsi 0-9, dig. med. absque ungue 0-7 dig 

 ext. 0-65. 



$ mari similis, capite summo chalybeo-nigro dorso concolore; pectore antico plumis quibusdam coccineis 

 ornato. (Descr. maris et feminae ex Eeal del Monte, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Eab. NoETH America, Western States from British Columbia southwards to Arizona and 

 Western Texas ^o. — Mexico {Temminck^^, Wagler, Mus. Ber. 2^), Santa Rosa, Yecsera 

 in Sonera ( W. Lloyd), Pinos Altos in Chihuahua {Buchan- Hepburn), Eefugio, San 

 Jose, Tomochic, Jesus Maria, all in Chihuahua ( W. Lloyd), Ciudad in Durantro 

 (Forrer), Guanajuato (Duges ii), Sierra de Valparaiso, Sierra de Bolanos, Sierra de 

 Jerez, Sierra de San Luis Potosi, Sierra de Tepic, Sierra above Ciudad Victoria in 



