100 
U. S. P. E. K. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
collection of the London Zoological Society ; and it is probably the original of the description 
and figure of Mr. Audubon, his specimens having been borrowed from the society. 
It is with great uncertainty that I admit the name of Vieillot as the proper one for this 
species. His description and figure apply almost equally well to this and the true P. 
tridactylus of Europe. No mention is made of any white on the back, and but for the amount 
of white on the side of the head the description would answer almost as well to P. arcticus. 
Vieillot evidently considers the bird described as P. Mrsutus as the only one inhabiting northern 
Europe and America, and the question can only be settled by knowing exactly what locality 
furnished the specimen used in his article. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by — 
Remarks. 
7972 
$ 
3 
J. Gould 
Supposed type of Au- 
dubon's figures. 
New Caledonia 
National Institute 
PICOLDES DORSALIS, Baird. 
Striped Three-toed Woodpecker. 
Black above, white beneath. Crown with a patch of yellow. Back streaked longitudinally with white ; upper tail covers 
spotted with the same. Innermost tail feather black ; next one with a white spot ; third considerably marked with white. 
Quills spotted with white. Under tail coverts uniform white ; sides of body banded transversely with black. 
Length 9 inches ; wing, 5 inches ; tail, 3.55 inches. 
Hab. — Laramie peak, Rocky Mountains. 
The only specimen of this species which has hitherto fallen under my notice is in very bad 
condition, having been shot in the moulting season and at the same time much mutilated. 
There is, however, no doubt of its specific distinction from any other known American species, 
although it may be difficult to express all its characters. 
The upper parts generally are black, but there is a longitudinal stripe of white down the 
middle of the back as in Picus villosus and pubescens. This white in the central feathers 
occupies the whole of the feather beyond the downy base ; in the adjacent ones, however, it 
forms an elongated terminal patch on the end of the inner web, the remainder being black. It 
is impossible to say how far forward the white extends, but probably as lar as the nape. The 
upper tail coverts have each a white spot at their tips. The wings are black; the quills with a 
series of small subcircular white spots on the edges of the outer webs to the tips, (six or seven 
on the primaries.) The inner webs are marked on their edges with larger and more transverse 
white blotches, commencing at their bases, but not reaching the tips. On the innermost secon- 
daries these bands are very distinct, and the terminal ones extend nearly to the outer edge of 
the feathers. 
There is a patch of gamboge yellow on the crown ; the rest of the head is black, with a 
distinct white stripe beneath the eye from the angle of the mouth, and extending forward across 
the bases of the bristly nasal tufts. Its backward extension cannot be ascertained, nor whether 
there is a second white stripe from behind the eye. The bristly feathers of the nostrils are 
black, somewhat streaked with white ; they do not reach to the middle of the culmen. 
