Professor Verrill says this bird is very common in Western Maine, in the spring, fall, and winter, or from the middle of October to the middle or end of March. It is not known to occur there in the summer. Near Calais a few are seen, and it is supposed to breed, but is not common. In Massachusetts it is only a rare and accidental visitant, occurring usually late in
winter or in March. Two were taken near Salem in November. It is also a rare winter visitant near Hamilton in Canada.
Mr. Ridgway met with but a single individual of this species during his Western explorations. This was shot in February, near Carson City, Nevada; it was busily engaged in pecking upon the trunk of a large pine, and was perfectly silent.
Mr. John K. Lord obtained a single specimen of this bird on the summit of the Cascade Mountains. It was late in September, and getting cold; the bird was flying restlessly from tree to tree, but not searching for insects. Both when on the wing and when clinging to a tree, it was continually uttering a shrill, plaintive cry. Its favorite tree is the Pinus contorta, which grows at great altitudes. It is found chiefly on hill-tops, while in the valleys and lower plains it is replaced by the Picoides hirsutus.
Eggs of this species were obtained by Professor Agassiz on the northern shore of Lake Superior. They were slightly ovate, nearly spherical, rounded at one end and abruptly pointed at the other, of a crystal whiteness, and measured .91 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth.
An egg received from Mr. Krieghoff is small in proportion to the size of the bird, nearly spherical in form, and of a uniform dull-white color. It measures .92 of an inch in length by .76 in breadth.
Picoides tridactylus, var. americanus, Brehm.
THE WHITE-BACKED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER.
Picus hirsutus, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 68, pl. cxxiv (European specimen).—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 27 (mixed with undulatus).—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 184, pl. ccccxvii.—Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, pl. cclxix.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 622. Apternus hirsutus, Bon. List, Picoides hirsutus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 98.—Samuels, 95. ? Picus undulatus, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 69 (based on Pl. enl. 553, fictitious species?) Picus undatus, Temm. Picus undosus, Cuv. R. A. 1829, 451 (all based on same figure). Tridactylia undulata, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 28. Picus tridactylus, Sw. F. Bor. Am. 1831, 311, pl. lvi. Picoides americanus, Brehm, Vögel Deutschlands, 1831, 195.—Malherbe, Mon. Picidæ, I, 176, pl. xvii, 36.—Sclater, Catal.—Gray, Cat. Br. Mus. III, 3, 4, 1868, 30. Apternus americanus, Swainson, Class. II, 1837, 306. Picus americanus, Sundevall, Consp. Av. Picin. 1866, 15. Picoides dorsalis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 100, pl. lxxxv, f. 1.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870 (under P. americanus). Tridactylia dorsalis, Cab. & Hein. Picus dorsalis, Sundevall, Consp. 1866, 14.
Sp. Char. Black above. The back markings of white, transverse in summer, and longitudinal in winter; these extend to the rump, which is sometimes almost wholly white. A white line from behind the eye, widening on the nape, and a broader one under the eye from the loral region, but not extending on the forehead; occiput and sides of head uniform black. Quills, but not coverts, spotted on both webs with white, seen on inner webs of inner secondaries. Under parts, including crissum, white; the sides, including axillars and lining of wing, banded transversely with black. Exposed portion of outer three tail-feathers white; that of third much less, and sometimes with a narrow tip of black. Upper tail-coverts sometimes tipped with white, and occasionally, but very rarely,