1911] Swarth: Alaska Expedition of 1909. 69 



This appears to be a fairly well marked race, easily distin- 

 guishable from gairdneri or nelsoni, whose ranges it adjoins, 

 but curiously similar to D. p. medianus of the eastern United 

 States. It is thus comparable with the isolated western ' ' colonies ' ' 

 of Penthestes atricapillus atricapillus and Passerculus sand- 

 wichcnsis savanna. We are fortunately able to recognize certain 

 slight differences in the woodpecker, and thus in this case avoid 

 the absurdity of calling the variety by the name of a race with 

 which its affinities are doubtless remote. 



Ficoides americanus americanus (Swainson). 

 American Three-toed Woodpecker. 



A single specimen, a female, collected by Hasselborg at 

 Freshwater Bay, Chichagof Island, November 27 (no. 10649). 

 This bird has not a trace of smoky suffusion beneath, the distin- 

 guishing character of the single specimen on which Grinnell 

 (1909, p. 217) based his Picoides a. fumipecius, also from 

 Chichagof Island. However, although this specimen is as pure 

 white ventrally as any of a series from the Yukon Valley, it 

 does show a smoky suffusion in the white speckling on the top of 

 the head, while the area of the white dorsal markings is somewhat 

 contracted. 



The three-toed woodpecker of the Sitkan district may still 

 prove to be a recognizable form, but the diversity of coloration 

 shown by the two specimens at hand necessitates the examination 

 of additional material to demonstrate the distinctness of the 

 race proposed by Grinnell (1. c). For the present it seems best 

 to consider P. a. fumipectus as a synonym of Picoides americanus 

 (Swainson). This bird was taken at a time when it may well 

 have been a migrant from some other region. The species was 

 not met with at aijy time during the summer. 



Sphyrapicus varius ruber (Gmelin). Eed-breasted Sapsucker. 



Generally distributed throughout the region, but nowhere 

 at all common. It was noted at the following points : Kupreanof 

 Island, Kuiu Island, Prince of Wales Island (Klawak Salt Lake), 

 Chickamin River, Etolin Island, and AVrangell Island. 



