52 
Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 
in the * Fauna Bor .-Am/ as an inhabitant of the Bocky Moun¬ 
tains, is identified from the neighbourhood of Bed Biver Settle¬ 
ment by specimens procured by Mr. Donald Gunn, now in the 
collection of the Smithsonian Institution, and by Mr. Bernard 
Boss on the Mackenzie. I observed what I took for this species 
on several occasions, and, in fact, shot a specimen on the western 
slope of the Bocky Mountains, but at the time I had no oppor¬ 
tunity of preserving it. 
PlCOIDES HIRSUTUS. 
The Banded Three-toed Woodpecker is here inserted on the 
authority of the ( Fauna Bor.-Am.’ and Mr. Bernard Boss as an 
inhabitant of the central and northern regions, and on that of 
Mr. Murray of the shores of Hudson’s Bay. 
Mr. Bernard Boss considers that he has obtained a specimen 
of Picoides dorsalis on the Mackenzie, where it winters. 
21. Sphyropicus varius. 
Besides having been found on the Saskatchawan, whence my 
specimen ( f Ibis/ vol. iv. p. 3) was obtained, both Sir John Bich- 
ardson and Mr. Bernard Boss record the Yellow-bellied Wood¬ 
pecker on the Mackenzie. 
22. Hylotomus pileatus. 
This fine bird is highly esteemed among the Indians of the 
Hudson’s Bay Company’s territory as medicine. It must not, 
however, be considered that t( medicine ” means physic; it 
should more properly be understood as “ charm.” So greatly 
do these people value the bird in this way, that they skin 
it and stuff it, hanging it to the poles of the wigwam when 
any inmate is labouring under indisposition; and they cannot 
be induced to part with it under any circumstances. Before I 
succeeded in obtaining a specimen myself ( f Ibis,’ vol. iv. p. 3), a 
Cree Indian, who was camping near Fort Carlton for a few days 
in January 1858, brought one stuffed in the manner above no¬ 
ticed to show me, because he had heard that I was “ curious 
about birds.” It had been shot at a place called Sturgeon Lake, 
about sixty miles to the north of the fort—the last fall, and had 
been presented to him as medicine for his wife, who had stuffed 
it with moss; and, to do the old squaw credit, I must say that the 
