242 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



2. Family PICIDiE.— The Woodpeckers. 

 1. Genus MELANERPES, Swainson, Fauna Boreali Americana, II, p. 316 (1831). 



1. Melanerpes torquatus [Wilson). 



Picus torquatus, WiLS. Am. Orn. Ill, p. 30, PI. XX, fig. 8 (1811). 



Aud. B. of Am. Plate CCCCXVI ; oct. ed. lY, Plate CCLXXII. 



This beautiful woodpecker is one of the most abundant of the birds 

 of this group in Western North America. It is contained in nearly 

 all collections made in California, and has been brought by Col. McCall, 

 and others, from Oregon, in which country specimens in the collection 

 of the Expedition also were obtained. 



Mr. Peale observes : 



" This species is quite numerous in every part of Oregon, where 

 there is timber, during the summer, and probably winters in Califor- 

 nia. We saw it evidently migrating in that direction in the latter 

 part of the summer." 



This species is found also east of the Rocky Mountains. It has 

 been noticed recently in Kansas by Dr. W. A. Hammond, a very 

 talented and efficient young naturalist and surgeon of the United 

 States Army. 



2. Melanerpes ruber [Gmelin). 



Picus ruber, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, p. 429 (1788). 



Audubon, Birds of America, Plate CCCCXVI ; octavo edition, IV, 

 Plate CCLXVI. 



Specimens in the collection are from Oregon. Apparently one of 

 the commonest, and certainly one of the most beautiful of woodpeckers, 

 now frequently brought in collections from Western North America, 

 but generally from California. 



