Chapter XXXI: Section IV: Crown rufous; body above, olive-green (22)

In quickness of motion this Woodpecker is said to be equalled by very few of the family. Mr. Audubon states that it glides upwards and sideways, along the trunks and branches, on the lower as well as the upper sides of the latter, moving with great celerity, and occasionally uttering a short, shrill, clear cry, that can be heard at a considerable distance. Mr. Audubon kept a wounded one several days. It soon cut its way out of a cage, and ascended the wall of the room as it would a tree, seizing such spiders and insects as it was able to find. Other than this it would take no food, and was set at liberty.

In the stomach of one dissected were found small ants and a few minute coleopterous insects. In Florida it mates in January and nests in February. In the winter it seeks shelter in holes, as also in stormy weather. Mr. Audubon states that it occasionally feeds on grain and on small fruits. Some go to the ground to search for those that have fallen from trees. They are always found in pairs, and during the breeding-season are very pugnacious.

An egg of this species obtained near Wilmington, N. C., by Mr. N. Giles, measures .95 by .70 of an inch. It is pure white, appeared less glossy than the eggs of most Woodpeckers, and was of a more elliptical shape. Another egg of this bird sent to me by Mr. Samuel Pasco of Monticello, Fla., measures .98 by .70 of an inch, being even more oblong in shape, and corresponds also in the absence of that brilliant polish so common in most Woodpeckers.

SUBGENUS XENOPICUS, BAIRD.

_Xenopicus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 83. (Type, _Leuconerpes
albolarvatus_, CASS.)
_Xenocraugus_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 74. (Same type.)

This section of _Picus_ is not appreciably different in form from _Picus villosus_, which may be taken as the American type of the genus _Picus_. The plumage appears softer, however, and the uniformly black body with white head and white patch at base of primaries will readily distinguish it from any allied group.

Picus albolarvatus, BAIRD.

WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER.

_Leuconerpes albolarvatus_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Oct. 1850, 106
(California). BONAP. Consp. Zyg. At. Ital. 1854, 10.
_Melanerpes albolarvatus_, CASSIN, Jour. A. N. Sc. 2d series,
II, Jan. 1853, 257, pl. xxii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. and Oreg.
Route, 9, Rep. P. R. R. VI, 1857. _Picus (Xenopicus)
albolarvatus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 96.—CASSIN, Pr. A. N.
Sc. 1863, 202.—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Ins. IV, 1864, 112 (Ft.
Colville; nesting).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 160.—ELLIOT, Birds N.
Am. IX, plate. _Picus albolarvatus_, SUNDEVALL, Consp. Pic.
29.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 382. _Xenocraugus
albolarvatus_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 74.
_Xenopicus albolarvatus_, ELLIOT, Illust. Birds Am. I, pl. xxix.

SP. CHAR. Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest; tip of first equidistant between sixth and seventh. Entirely bluish-black, excepting the head and neck, and the outer edges of the primaries (except outermost), and the concealed bases of all the quills, which are white. Length, about 9.00; wing, 5.25. Male with a narrow crescent of red on the occiput.

HAB. Cascade Mountains of Oregon and southward into California. Sierra Nevada.

HABITS. This very plainly marked Woodpecker, formerly considered very rare, is now known to be abundant in the mountains of Northern California and Nevada, as also in the mountain-ranges of Washington Territory and Oregon. Dr. Cooper found it quite common near the summits of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, in September, 1863, and procured three specimens. Three years previously he had met with it at Fort Dalles, Columbia River. He thinks that its chief range of distribution will be found to be between those two points. He also found it as far north as Fort Colville, in the northern part of Washington Territory, latitude 49°. He characterizes it as a rather silent bird.

Dr. Newberry only met with this bird among the Cascade Mountains, in Oregon, where he did not find it common.

Mr. J. G. Bell, who first discovered this species, in the vicinity of Sutter’s Mills, in California, on the American River, represents it as frequenting the higher branches of the pines, keeping almost out of gunshot range. Active and restless in its movements, it uttered at rare intervals a sharp and clear note, while busily pursuing its search for food.

Mr. John K. Lord states that the only place in which he saw this very rare bird was in the open timbered country about the Colville Valley and Spokan River. He has observed that this Woodpecker almost invariably haunts woods of the _Pinus ponderosa_, and never retires into the thick damp forest. It arrives in small numbers at Colville, in April, and disappears again in October and November, or as soon as the snow begins to fall. Although he did not succeed in obtaining its eggs, he saw a pair nesting in the month of May in a hole bored in the branch of a very tall pine-tree. It seldom flies far, but darts from tree to tree with a short jerking flight, and always, while flying, utters a sharp, clear, chirping cry. Mr. Ridgway found it to be common in the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the region of the Donner Lake Pass. It was first observed in July, at an altitude of about five thousand feet, on the western slope of that range, where it was seen playing about the tops of the tallest dead pines. On various occasions, at all seasons, it was afterwards found to be quite plentiful on the eastern slope, in the neighborhood of Carson City, Nevada. Its habits and manners are described as much like those of the _P. harrisi_, but it is of a livelier and more restless disposition. Its notes have some resemblance to those of that species, but are of a more rattling character. It is easily recognized, when seen, by its strikingly peculiar plumage.

GENUS PICOIDES, LACEP.

_Picoides_, LACEP. Mem. Inst. 1799. (Type, _Picus tridactylus_.)
_Tridactylia_, STEPH. Shaw, Gen. Zoöl. 1815.
_Apternus_, SW. F. B. A. II, 1831, 311.

[Line drawing: _Picoides arcticus._
39143 ♂]

GEN. CHAR. Bill about as long as the head, very much depressed at the base; the outlines nearly straight; the lateral ridge at its base much nearer the commissure than the culmen, so as to bring the large, rather linear nostrils close to the edge of the commissure. The gonys very long, equal to the distance from the nostrils to the tip of the bill. Feet with only three toes, the first or inner hinder one being wanting; the outer lateral a little longer than the inner, but slightly exceeded by the hind toe, which is about equal to the tarsus. Wings very long, reaching beyond the middle of the tail, the tip of the first quill between those of sixth and seventh. Color black above, with a broad patch of yellow on the crown; white beneath, transversely banded on the sides. Quills, but not wing-coverts, with round spots. Lateral tail-feathers white, without bands on exposed portion, except in European specimens.

The peculiarities of this genus consist in the absence of the inner hind toe and the great depression of the bill. The figure above fails to represent the median ridge of the bill as viewed from above.

COMMON CHARACTERS. The American species of _Picoides_ agree in being black above and white beneath; the crown with a square yellow patch in the male; a white stripe behind the eye, and another from the loral region beneath the eye; the quills (but not the coverts) spotted with white; the sides banded transversely with black. The diagnostic characters (including the European species) are as follows:—

Species and Varieties.

P. arcticus. Dorsal region without white markings; no
supraloral white stripe or streak, nor nuchal band of
white. Four middle tail-feathers wholly black; the next
pair with the basal half black; the outer two pairs almost
wholly white, without any dark bars. Entire sides heavily
banded with black; crissum immaculate; sides of the breast
continuously black. ♂. Crown with a patch of yellow,
varying from lemon, through gamboge, to orange, and not
surrounded by any whitish markings or suffusion. ♀. Crown
lustrous black, without any yellow, and destitute of white
streaks or other markings. Wing, 4.85 to 5.25; tail, 3.60;
culmen, 1.40 to 1.55. _Hab._ Northern parts of North
America. In winter just within the northern border of the
United States, but farther south on high mountain-ranges.

P. tridactylus. Dorsal region with white markings, of
various amount and direction; a more or less distinct
supraloral white streak or stripe, and a more or less
apparent nuchal band of the same. Four to six middle
tail-feathers entirely black; when six, the remainder are
white, with distinct black bars to their ends; when four,
they are white without any black bars, except occasionally
a few toward the base. Sides always with black streaks or
markings, but they are sometimes very sparse; crissum
banded with black, or immaculate; sides of the breast not
continuously black. ♂. Crown with a patch of gamboge,
amber, or sulphur-yellow, surrounded by a whitish
suffusion or markings. ♀. Crown without any yellow, but
distinctly streaked, speckled, or suffused with whitish
(very seldom plain black).

_a._ Six middle tail-feathers wholly black. Europe and
Asia.

Sides and crissum heavily barred with black (black
bars about as wide as the white ones).

Back usually transversely spotted with white;
occasionally longitudinally striped with the same in
Scandinavian examples. Wing, 4.80 to 5.10; tail,
3.80 to 4.00; culmen, 1.20 to 1.35. _Hab._ Europe
var. _tridactylus_.[127]

Sides and crissum almost free from black bars; black
bars on the outer tail-feathers very much narrower
than the white.

Back always (?) striped longitudinally with white.
Wing, 4.70 to 4.75; tail, 3.65 to 3.90; culmen, 1.20
to 1.35. _Hab._ Siberia and Northern Russia
var. _crissoleucus_.[128]

_b._ Four middle tail-feathers, only, wholly black.
North America.

Sides heavily barred with black, but crissum without
bars, except beneath the surface. Three outer
tail-feathers without black bars, except sometimes on
the basal portion of the inner webs. Wing, 4.40 to
5.10; tail, 3.40 to 3.70; culmen, 1.10 to 1.25.

Back transversely spotted or barred with white.
_Hab._ Hudson’s Bay region; south in winter to
northern border of Eastern United States var. _americanus_.

Back longitudinally striped with white at all
seasons. _Hab._ Rocky Mountains; north to Alaska
var. _dorsalis_.

[127] _Picoides tridactylus_, var. _tridactylus_. _Picus
tridactylus_, LINN. S. N. 12th ed. I, 177 (1766).—DEGLAND,
Orn. Eur. I, 161 (1849). _Apternus tridactylus_, BONAP.
Birds (1838), p. 9.—GOULD, Birds of Europe, pl. ccxxxii.
_Picoides tridactylus_, GRAY. _Picoides europæus_, LESS.
Orn. p. 217 (1831).

[128] _Picoides tridactylus_, var. _crissoleucus_. _Picus
crissoleucus_, BRANDT, Mus. Petrop. _Apternus crissoleucus_,
BONAP. Consp.—REICH. Syn. p. 362, No. 836; pl. dcxxxi, f.
4197, 4198. _Picoides crissoleucus_, MALH. Monog. Pic. I,
180. “_Apternus kamtchatkensis_, BONAP.”—MALH. Monog. Pic.
I, 180 (in synonomy). _Apternus tridactylus_, Mus. de
Mayence.—PALLAS, Zoogr. Ros. As. I, 415.

Picoides arcticus, GRAY.

THE BLACK-BACKED THREE-TOED WOODPECKER.

_Picus (Apternus) arcticus_, SW. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 313.
_Apternus arcticus_, BP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
139.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. and Oreg. Route, 91, Rep. P. R. R.
Surv. VI, 1857. _Picus arcticus_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 182.—IB.
Birds Amer. VI, 1842, 266, pl. cclxviii.—NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d
ed.,) 1840, 691.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. I, 1866, 15. _Picus
tridactylus_, BON. Am. Orn. II, 1828, 14, pl. xiv, f. 2.—AUD.
Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 198, pl. cxxxii. _Tridactylia arctica_,
CAB. & HEIN. _Picoides arcticus_, GRAY, Gen.—BAIRD, Birds N.
Am. 1858, 98.—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. Woolwich, IV, 1864, 112
(Cascade Mountains).—COOPER, Pr. Cal. Ac. Sc. 1868 (Lake Tahoe
and Sierra Nevada).—SAMUELS, 94.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870,
384.

SP. CHAR. Above entirely uniform glossy bluish-black; a square patch on the middle of the crown saffron-yellow, and a few white spots on the outer edges of both webs of the primary and secondary quills. Beneath white, on the sides of whole body, axillars, and inner wing-coverts banded transversely with black. Crissum white, with a few spots anteriorly. A narrow concealed white line from the eye a short distance backwards, and a white stripe from the extreme forehead (meeting anteriorly) under the eye, and down the sides of the neck, bordered below by a narrow stripe of black. Bristly feathers of the base of the bill brown; sometimes a few gray intermixed. Exposed portion of two outer tail-feathers (first and second) white; the third obliquely white at end, tipped with black. Sometimes these feathers with a narrow black tip.

HAB. Northern North America; south to northern borders of United States in winter. Massachusetts (MAYNARD, B. E. Mass., 1870, 129). Sierra Nevada, south to 39°. Lake Tahoe (COOPER); Carson City (RIDGWAY).

This species differs from the other American three-toed Woodpeckers chiefly in having the back entirely black. The white line from the eye is usually almost imperceptible, if not wanting entirely. Specimens vary very little; one from Slave Lake has a longer bill than usual, and the top of head more orange. The size of the vertex patch varies; sometimes the frontal whitish is inappreciable. None of the females before me have any white spots in the black of head, as in that of _americanus_.

The variations in this species are very slight, being chiefly in the shade of the yellow patch on the crown, which varies from a sulphur tint to a rich orange. Sometimes there is the faintest trace of a whitish post-ocular streak, but usually this is wholly absent. Western and Eastern examples appear to be identical.

HABITS. This species has a well-defined and extended distribution, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from the northern portions of the United States to the extreme Arctic regions. In the United States it has been found as far south as Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, but rarely; and, so far as I am aware, it is a winter visitant only to any but the extreme northern portions of the Union, except along the line of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Audubon says it occurs in Northern Massachusetts, and in all portions of Maine that are covered by forests of tall trees, where it constantly resides. He saw a few in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Bachman noticed several in the neighborhood of Niagara Falls, and was of the opinion that it breeds in the northern part of New York. The same writer describes the nesting-place of the Arctic Woodpecker as generally bored in the body of a sound tree, near its first large branches. He observed no particular choice as to the timber, having seen it in oaks, pines, etc. The nest, like that of most of this family, is worked out by both sexes, and requires fully a week for its completion. Its usual depth is from twenty to twenty-four inches. It is smooth and broad at the bottom, although so narrow at its entrance as to appear scarcely sufficient to enable one of the birds to enter it. The eggs are from four to six, rather rounded and pure white. Only one brood is raised in the season. The young follow their parents until the autumn. In the southern districts where these Woodpeckers are found, their numbers are greatly increased in the winter by accessions from the North.

Dr. Cooper found this species quite numerous, in September, in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe and the summits of the Sierra Nevada, above an altitude of six thousand feet. From thence this bird has a northern range chiefly on the east side of these mountains and of the Cascade Range. None were seen near the Lower Columbia. At the lake they were quite fearless, coming close to the hotel, and industriously rapping the trees in the evening and in the early morning. Farther north Dr. Cooper found them very wild, owing probably to their having been hunted by the Indians for their skins, which they consider very valuable. He noticed their burrows in low pine-trees near the lake, where he had no doubt they also raise their young. Dr. Cooper has always found them very silent birds, though in the spring they probably have more variety of calls. The only note he heard was a shrill, harsh, rattling cry, quite distinct from that of any other Woodpecker.

The flight of this Woodpecker is described as rapid, gliding, and greatly undulated. Occasionally it will fly to quite a distance before it alights, uttering, from time to time, a loud shrill note.

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, banded with the same. Top of the head spotted, streaked, or suffused with white; the crown of the male with a yellow patch. Nasal bristles black, mixed with gray. Female with the whole top of head usually spotted with white, very rarely entirely black.

HAB. Arctic regions of North America; southward in the Rocky Mountains to Fort Buchanan; northern border of the Eastern United States, in winter (Massachusetts, MAYNARD).

This species varies considerably in its markings, especially in the amount of white above. The head is sometimes more coarsely spotted with white than in the average; very rarely are the white spots wanting, leaving merely the broad malar and interrupted post-ocular stripe. The rictal black stripe is sometimes much obscured by white. In typical specimens from the Hudson Bay and Labrador Provinces, which seem to be darkest, the feathers of the centre of the back have three transverse bars of white (one of them terminal), rather narrower than the intermediate black bars; the basal white ones disappearing both anteriorly and posteriorly, leaving but two. In specimens from the Mackenzie River district there is a greater development of white; the white bands being broader than the black, and sometimes extending along the shafts so as to reduce the black bars to pairs of spots. The next step is the disappearance of these spots on one side or the other, or on both, leaving the end of the feathers entirely white, especially anteriorly, where the back may have a longitudinal stripe of white, as in _Picus villosus_. Usually, however, in this extreme, the upper tail-coverts remain banded transversely. In all the specimens from the Rocky Mountains of the United States, especially Laramie Peak, this white back, unbarred except on the rump, is a constant character, and added to it we have a broad nuchal patch of white running into that of the back and connected with the white post-ocular stripe. The bands, too, on the sides of the body, are less distinct. It was to this state of plumage that the name of _P. dorsalis_ was applied, in 1858, and although in view of the connecting links it may not be entitled to consideration as a distinct race, this tendency to a permanence of the longitudinal direction of the white markings above seems to be especially characteristic of the Rocky Mountain region, appearing only in winter birds from elsewhere. This same character prevails in all the Rocky Mountain specimens from more northern regions, including those from Fort Liard, and in only one not found in that region, namely, No. 49,905, collected at Nulato by Mr. Dall. Here the middle of the back is very white, although the nuchal band is less distinct. Other specimens from that locality and the Yukon River generally, as also from Kodiak, distinctly show the transverse bars.

In one specimen (29,126) from the Mackenzie River, all the upper tail-coverts are banded decidedly with white, and the wing-coverts spotted with the same. Even the central tail-feathers show white scallops. The back is, however, banded transversely very distinctly, not longitudinally.

_P. americanus_ in all stages of color is distinguished from _arcticus_ by the white along the middle of the back, the absence of distinct frontal white and black bands, more numerous spots of white on the head, etc. The inner webs of inner secondaries are banded with white, not uniform black. The maxillary black stripe is rather larger than the rictal white one, not smaller. The size is decidedly smaller. Females almost always have the top of head spotted with white instead of uniform black, which is the rule in _arcticus_.

It is probable that the difference in the amount of white on the upper parts of this species is to some extent due to age and season, the winter specimens and the young showing it to the greatest degree. Still, however, there is a decided geographical relationship, as already indicated.

This race of _P. tridactylus_ can be easily distinguished from the European form of Northern and Alpine Europe by the tail-feathers; of these, the outer three are white (the rest black) as far as exposed, without any bands; the tip of the third being white only at the end. The supra-ocular white stripe is very narrow and scarcely appreciable; the crissum white and unbanded. The back is banded transversely in one variety, striped longitudinally in the other. In _P. tridactylus_ the outer two feathers on each side are white, banded with black; the outer with the bands regular and equal from base; the second black, except one or two terminal bands. The crissum is well banded with black; the back striped longitudinally with white; the supra-ocular white stripe almost as broad as the infra-ocular. _P. crisoleucus_, of Siberia, is similar to the last, but differs in white crissum, and from both species in the almost entire absence of dark bands on the sides, showing the Arctic maximum of white.

We follow Sundevall in using the specific name _americanus_, Brehm, for this species, as being the first legitimately belonging to it. _P. hirsutus_ of Vieillot, usually adopted, is based on a European bird, and agrees with it, though referred by the author to the American. The name of _undulatus_, Vieillot, selected by Cabanis, is based on Buffon’s figure (Pl. enl. 553) of a bird said to be from Cayenne, with four toes; the whole top of the head red from base of bill to end of occiput, with the edges of the dorsal feathers narrowly white, and with the three lateral tail-feathers regularly banded with black, tipped with red; the fourth, banded white and black on outer web, tipped with black. None of those features belong to the bird of Arctic America, and the markings answer, if to either, better to the European.

HABITS. This rare and interesting species, so far as has been ascertained, is nowhere a common or well-known bird. It is probably exclusively of Arctic residence, and only occasionally or very rarely is found so far south as Massachusetts. In the winter of 1836 I found a specimen exposed for sale in the Boston market, which was sent in alcohol to Mr. Audubon. Two specimens have been taken in Lynn, by Mr. Welch, in 1868. They occur, also, in Southern Wisconsin in the winter, where Mr. Kumlien has several times, in successive winters, obtained single individuals.

Sir John Richardson states that this bird is to be met with in all the forests of spruce and fir lying between Lake Superior and the Arctic Sea, and that it is the most common Woodpecker north of Great Slave Lake, whence it has frequently been sent to the Smithsonian Institution. It is said to greatly resemble _P. villosus_ in habits, except that it seeks its food principally upon decaying trees of the pine tribe, in which it frequently makes holes large enough to bury itself. It is not migratory.

GENUS SPHYROPICUS, BAIRD.

_Pilumnus_, BON. Consp. Zygod. Ateneo Italiano, May, 1854. (Type _P.
thyroideus_) preoccupied in crustaceans.
_Sphyropicus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 101. (Type, _Picus varius_,)
LINN., COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 52 (anatomy).
_Cladoscopus_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 80. (Type, _P.
varius_.)

[Line drawing: _Sphyropicus nuchalis._
20511 ♀]

GEN. CHAR. Bill as in _Picus_, but the lateral ridge, which is very prominent, running out distinctly to the commissure at about its middle, beyond which the bill is rounded without any angles at all. The culmen and gonys are very nearly straight, but slightly convex, the bill tapering rapidly to a point; the lateral outline concave to very near the slightly bevelled tip. Outer pair of toes longest; the hinder exterior rather longest; the inner posterior toe very short, less than the inner anterior without its claw. Wings long and pointed; the third, excluding the spurious, longest. Tail-feathers very broad, abruptly acuminate, with a very long linear tip. Tongue scarcely extensible.

The genus _Sphyropicus_, instituted in 1858, proves to be so strongly marked in its characters that Dr. Coues proposes to make it the type of a distinct subfamily, _Sphyropicinæ_ (Pr. Phil. Acad. 1866, 52). In addition to the peculiarities already indicated, there is a remarkable feature in the tongue, which, according to Dr. Coues, Dr. Hoy, Dr. Bryant, and others, is incapable of protrusion much beyond the tip of the bill, or not more than the third of an inch. Dr. Coues states that the apo-hyal and cerato-hyal elements of the hyoid bone do not reach back much beyond the tympano-maxillary articulation, instead of extending round, as in _Picus_, over the occiput to the top of the cranium, or even curving into an osseous groove around the orbit. The basihyals supporting the tongue are shorter and differently shaped. The tongue itself is short and flattened, with a superior longitudinal median groove and a corresponding inferior ridge; the tip is broad and flattened and obtusely rounded, and with numerous long and soft bristly hairs. This is, of course, very different from the long, extensile, acutely pointed tongue of other Woodpeckers, with its tip armed with a few strong, sharp, short, recurved barbs.

Dr. Hoy and Dr. Coues maintain that the food of these Woodpeckers consists mainly of the cambium or soft inner bark of trees, which is cut out in patches sometimes of several inches in extent, and usually producing square holes in the bark, not rounded ones. As may be supposed, such proceedings are very injurious to the trees, and justly call down the vengeance of their proprietors. This diet is varied with insects and fruits, when they can be had, but it is believed that cambium is their principal sustenance.

This strongly marked genus appears to be composed of two sections and three well-defined species; the first being characterized by having the back variegated with whitish, and the jugulum with a sharply defined crescentic patch of black, though the latter is sometimes concealed by red, when the whole head and neck are of the latter color, and the sharply defined striped pattern of the cephalic regions, seen in the normal plumage, obliterated. Comparing the extreme conditions of plumage to be seen in this type, as in the females of _varius_ and of _ruber_, the differences appear wide indeed, and few would entertain for a moment a suspicion of their specific identity; yet upon carefully examining a sufficiently large series of specimens, we find these extremes to be connected by an unbroken transition, and are thus led to view these different conditions as manifestations of a peculiar law principally affecting a certain color, which leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that the group which at first seemed to compose a section of the genus is in reality only an association of forms of specific identity. Beginning with the birds of the Atlantic region (_S. varius_), we find in this series the minimum amount of red; indeed, many adult females occur which lack this color entirely, having not only the whole throat white, but the entire pileum glossy-black; usually, however, the latter is crimson. In adult males from this region the front and crown are always crimson, sharply defined, and bordered laterally and posteriorly with glossy-black; and below the black occipital band is another of dirty white; the crimson of the throat is wholly confined between the continuous broad, black malar stripes, and there is no tinge of red on the auriculars; there is a broad, sharply defined stripe of white beginning with the nasal tufts, passing beneath the black loral and auricular stripe, and continuing downward into the yellowish of the abdomen, giving the large, glossy-black pectoral area a sharply defined outline; the dirty whitish nuchal band is continued forward beneath the black occipital crescent to above the middle of the eye. The pattern just described will be found in ninety-nine out of a hundred specimens from the Eastern Province of North America (also the West Indies and whole of Mexico); but a single adult male, from Carlisle, Penn. (No. 12,071, W. M. Baird), has the whitish nuchal band distinctly tinged with red, though differing in this respect only, while an adult female, from Washington, D. C. (No. 12,260, C. Drexler), has the lower part of the throat much mixed with red.

Taking next the specimens from the Rocky Mountains and Middle Province of the United States (_S. nuchalis_), we find that _all_ the specimens possess _both_ these additional amounts of the red, there being always a red, instead of dirty-white, nuchal crescent, while in the female the lower part of the throat is always more or less red; in addition, the male has the red of the throat reaching laterally to the white stripe, thus interrupting the black malar one, which is always unbroken in the eastern form; and in addition, the auriculars are frequently mixed with red. Proceeding towards the Columbia River, we find the red increasing, or escaping the limits to which it is confined in the normal pattern, staining the white and black areas in different places, and tingeing the whitish which borders the black pectoral area.

Lastly, in the series from the Pacific coast (_S. ruber_), we find the whole normal pattern rendered scarcely definable—sometimes entirely obliterated—by the extension of the red, which covers continuously the whole head, neck, and breast; but nearly always the normal pattern may be traced, the feathers of the normally black areas being dusky beneath the surface, and those of the usual white stripes very white for the concealed portion. Usually, in this form, the red of the breast covers only the black pectoral area; but in extreme specimens it reaches back to the middle of the body beneath, and stains the white spots of the back.

With the increase of the red as we proceed westward, there is also a decrease in the amount of white above; thus, in _varius_ the whole back is irregularly spotted with dirty white and black,—the former predominating, the latter most conspicuous as a medial, broken broad stripe,—and the lateral tail-feathers are much variegated by white spots. In _nuchalis_ the back is mostly unbroken glossy-black, with two parallel _narrow_ stripes of white converging at their lower ends; and the lateral tail-feather is almost wholly black, having merely a narrow white border toward the end. _S. ruber_ is most like _nuchalis_, but has the white still more restricted.

In _varius_ the bill is dark brown, in _nuchalis_ it is deep black, and in _ruber_ wax-brown. In _varius_ the yellow of the lower parts is deepest, in _nuchalis_ just appreciable.

Species and Varieties.

A. Wing with a white patch on the middle and greater
coverts. Markings along the sides with a longitudinal
tendency.

1. S. varius. Back variegated medially with
brownish-white; secondaries with transverse rows of
white spots.

_White and black stripes on side of head sharply
defined, as is also the black pectoral crescent. Red
confined to isolated patches,—two large ones, one
on the crown and one on the throat; when there is
more, only a tinge on the auriculars, and a crescent
on nape._

Crown sometimes glossy black without a trace of red on
the female; no tinge of scarlet on the nape. Red of
the throat entirely confined within the broad,
continuous black maxillary stripe. _Female_ with the
throat wholly white. _Hab._ Eastern Province North
America, south in winter into West Indies, and over
whole of Mexico, to Guatemala var. _varius_.

Crown always red in adult. A nuchal crescent of
scarlet in both sexes. Red of the throat not confined
by the black maxillary stripe, which is interrupted by
it in the middle, allowing the red to touch the white
stripe; a tinge of red on the auriculars. _Female_
always with more or less red on lower part of the
throat. _Hab._ Rocky Mountains and Middle Province of
United States var. _nuchalis_.

_White and black stripes on side of head obsolete,
as is also the black pectoral crescent, caused by
being overspread by a continuous red wash extending
over whole head, neck, and breast._

Whole head, neck, and breast red, with the light and
dark stripes of the normal pattern only faintly
traceable. Sexes similar. _Hab._ Pacific Province of
United States, north to British Columbia var. _ruber_.

2. S. williamsoni. Back unvariegated; secondaries
without bands of white spots.

Whole crown and upper parts (except lower part of rump
and upper tail-coverts, and wing-patch), a stripe on
side of head, a broader one on side of the throat, and
the whole jugulum and sides of the breast, unbroken
glossy-black; abdomen bright lemon-yellow. _Male_ with
a narrow stripe of scarlet on middle of the throat.
_Female_ with it white. _Young_ like the adult. _Hab._
Western Province of United States.

B. Wing without a white patch. Markings on sides regularly
transverse.

3. S. thyroideus. Head all round light brown; abdomen
bright lemon-yellow; rump and upper tail-coverts white.
Entire upper surface, with sides, regularly and
continuously barred with black and white, in nearly
equal amount; the black bars usually coalesced on the
jugulum into a more or less extensive patch. _Male_ with
the throat tinged medially with scarlet. _Female_
without any red. _Hab._ Western Province of United
States.

Sphyropicus varius, var. varius, BAIRD.

THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.

_Picus varius_, L. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 176.—VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. II,
1807, 63, pl. cxviii, cxix.—WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 147, pl.
ix, f. 2.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 16.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II,
1834, 519; V, 537, pl. 190.—IB. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 263, pl.
cclxvii.—BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 138.—MAXIM. Cab.
Jour. VI, 1858, 416 (refers to peculiar tongue).—GOSSE, Birds
Jam. 270 (Jamaica).—NEWTON, Ibis, 1860, 308 (St.
Croix).—TAYLOR, Ibis, 1860, 119 (Honduras).—SUNDEVALL, Consp.
33.—GRAY, Cat. 51. _Picus (Dendrocopus) varius_, SW. F. B. A.
II, 1831, 309. _Pilumnus varius_, BON. Consp. Zygod. Aten.
Ital. 1854, 8. _Cladoscopus varius_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. 80.
_? Picus atrothorax_, LESSON, Traité d’Ornithologie, I, 1831,
229.—PUCHERAN, Rev. Zoöl. VII, 1835, 21. (Refers it to _Picus
varius_.) _Yellow-bellied Woodpecker_, PENNANT, LATHAM.
_Sphyropicus varius_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 103.—SCLATER,
P. Z. S. 1859, 367 (Xalapa).—IB. Catal. 335 (Orizaba).—IB.
Ibis, 1859, 136 (Guatemala).—IB. 1860, 119 (Honduras).—CAB.
Journal, IV, 1856, 102.—GUNDLACH, Repertorium, I, 1866, 294
(Cuba).—BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1859 (Bahamas).—IB. 1865, 91
(Anatomy of tongue.)—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 468 (breeds in
Texas).—SAMUELS, 96.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 306.

SP. CHAR. Third quill longest; second a little shorter; first between fourth and fifth considerably shorter. General color above black, much variegated with white. Feathers of the back and rump brownish-white, spotted with black. Crown crimson, bordered by black on the sides of the head and nape. A streak from above the eye, and a broad stripe from the bristles of the bill, passing below the eye, and into the yellowish of the belly, enclosing a black post-ocular one, and a stripe along the edges of the wing-coverts, white. A triangular broad patch of scarlet on the chin, bordered on each side by black stripes from the lower mandible which meet behind, and extend into a large quadrate spot on the breast. Rest of under parts yellowish-white, or yellow, streaked and banded on the sides with black. Inner web of inner tail-feather white, spotted with black. Outer feathers black, edged and spotted with white. Quills spotted with white. Length, 8.25; wing, about 4.75; tail, 3.30. _Female_ with the red of the throat replaced by white. Immature bird without black on the breast, or red on top of the head, as in every intermediate stage to the perfect plumage.

HAB. Atlantic coast to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains; Greenland; West Indies; whole of Mexico, to Guatemala. Localities: ? Oaxaca (SCL. P. Z. S. 1858, 305); Orizaba (SCL. Cat. 335); Xalapa (SCL. 1859, 367); Yucatan (LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 205); Guatemala (SCL. Ibis, I, 136); Honduras (SCL. Ibis, II, 119); Cuba (CAB. J. IV, 102); (GUNDL. Repert. I, 1866, 294); Bahamas (BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859; IB. 1867, 65); Jamaica (GOSSE, B. Jam. 270); St. Croix (SCL. Ibis, II, 308); E. Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 468; breeds).

There is an occasional variation in the markings of the tail-feathers. Thus, in No. 782, from Carlisle, the innermost one is entirely black, while in 4,631, from the Upper Missouri, the outer web of the same feather has nearly, and in 2,107, from Carlisle, it has quite, as much white as the inner web. The outer webs do not appear to vary so much.

Specimens from the whole of Mexico, including even the west coast, are referrible to _varius_; they are probably winter migrants from the eastern United States.

A female, from Washington, D. C. (No. 12,260, C. Drexler), has the lower half of the throat much mixed with red, as in var. _nuchalis_; but there is no trace of this color on the nape. A male from Carlisle (No. 12,071, W. M. Baird) has the nape distinctly tinged with red, as in _nuchalis_, but the black malar stripe is uninterrupted. Similar specimens have been taken in New England, by Messrs. Brewster and Henshaw.

Many females occur with the entire pileum glossy-black, there being no trace of red, though there are sometimes specks of white.

HABITS. The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is found throughout the United States, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Atlantic on the east to the Rocky Mountains, and is met with as far to the north as the 61st parallel of latitude. Sir John Richardson found it common in the fur countries, being the only Woodpecker that visits those regions in flocks. He observed the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker on the north shore of Lake Huron on the 14th of April, in 1825, and in 1827 it made its first appearance for the season, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, on the 14th of May. Swainson received specimens of this Woodpecker from Mexico. De la Sagra and Dr. Gundlach both give it in their list of Cuban birds, though not as breeding on that island. Gosse obtained several specimens in the months of December, January, and February, in Jamaica, where he regarded it as only a winter migrant from the northern continent. It is not given by the Newtons among the birds of St. Croix, but appears in Sclater’s list of the birds of Central America, on the authority of Mr. George M. Skinner. Two specimens have been taken in Greenland.

Wilson, in his account of its breeding habits, speaks of it as a resident bird from Cayenne to Hudson’s Bay, as being common in the States of Kentucky and Ohio, and as having been found in the neighborhood of St. Louis. He describes the habits of this species as similar to those of the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, with which it generally associates. The only nest of this bird which Wilson ever met with was in the body of an old pear-tree, about ten or eleven feet from the ground. The hole was almost exactly circular, small for the size of the bird, so that it crept in and out with difficulty; but the excavation suddenly widened, descending by a small angle, and then running downward about fifteen inches. On the smooth solid wood lay four white eggs. This was about the 25th of May.

Mr. Audubon, on the other hand, speaks of this species as returning to Louisiana and the other Southern States only about the beginning of October, remaining there during the winter, and again taking its departure before the beginning of April, after which period he never observed it in those districts. A few only, according to the same authority, breed in Kentucky, but the greater number migrate to the more northern parts of the Union. He describes it, in its habits, as preferring the interior of the forest during the spring and summer, seldom showing itself near the habitation of man at those seasons. It generally, he adds, bores its nest at a considerable height, and usually in the trunk of an undecayed tree, immediately beneath a large branch, and on its southern side. The hole is worked out by the male as well as the female, in the manner followed by the other species, and to the depth of from fifteen to twenty-four inches. The aperture is just large enough to admit the birds, but the whole widens gradually towards the bottom, where it is large and roomy. The eggs, which are from four to six, and pure white, with a slight blush, are deposited on the chips without any nest. The young seldom leave the hole until they are fully fledged.

Mr. Audubon elsewhere speaks of having found this species extremely abundant in the upper parts of the State of Maine and in the Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; but he saw none in Newfoundland or Labrador.

For my specimens of the eggs of this species and valuable information as to its habits, I am indebted to Mr. Charles S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., in which State it seems to be quite abundant. In a letter written in the summer of 1860, he furnishes the results of his observations relative to their habits, so far as they have fallen under his notice.

The Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers reach the central and northern parts of that State about the 10th of April. They soon make their presence known there by their loud and continued drumming, rather than tapping, on the trunks and larger branches of decaying trees. Of this drumming they seem to be peculiarly fond, especially where they can produce a loud ringing sound. Sometimes, when Mr. Paine had been engaged in the process of preparing maple sugar, he had left a few empty wooden buckets hanging on the branches of trees, until needed for use. Upon these the bird will drum, apparently with the greatest delight. At times they would experiment upon the tin pails, but, being unable to obtain good standing-ground, they did not follow it up. On such occasions their drumming did not appear to be done in the pursuit of worms or food, but was very evidently for their own entertainment, or in a spirit of rivalry one with another, as if seeking to please their mates. When two male birds meet, they pursue each other through the woods with great clamor. They have a loud, distinct, and lively note, but their favorite music appears to be this drumming. They mate and commence the excavation of their nests the last week in April. Their eggs are usually deposited, in this section, somewhere between the 20th of May and the first of June. The excavations for their nests are usually made in the tops of large decaying trees. He adds that he found four or five of these nests that year. The eggs of one of these he was able to obtain without much trouble, the others had hatched. When the young leave their nests they usually keep together, and often four or five may be seen playing about the bark of the same tree while waiting for their parents to bring them their food.

This species is far more abundant at the West than it is in the New England States. In the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts it is very rarely met with. It is commonly known as the Sap-Sucker, and much better deserves that name than do other species to which this term is also applied. Owing to the peculiar formation of its tongue and the muscles connected with it, it feeds less readily upon insects, and they form a smaller proportion of its food. In the spring of the year these birds prey largely upon the inner bark of trees, and where they exist in great numbers often do a great deal of mischief. In April, 1868, I visited gardens in Racine, in company with Dr. Hoy, where these Woodpeckers had every successive spring committed their ravages, and was eyewitness to their performance. Their punctures were unlike those of the _pubescens_, being much deeper, penetrating the inner bark, and, being repeated in close proximity, becomes entirely stripped off after a while, often resulting in the girdling and complete destruction of the tree. In one garden of some considerable size, all the mountain-ash and white-pine trees had thus been killed. In prairie countries, where trees are a deficiency and their cultivation both important and attended with difficulty, these birds prove a great pest, and in a few hours may destroy the labor of many years. These habits, so well known to most of our Western farmers, appear to have entirely escaped the notice of our older ornithologists.

Mr. Dresser found these birds near San Antonio at all seasons of the year, but rather rare. He shot a couple near the Medina River, and Dr. Heermann also procured the eggs in that neighborhood.

Mr. Ridgway says that in Southern Illinois this Woodpecker is only a winter resident, coming from the north in September or October, and departing in April. It is the only one of the eight species of Woodpeckers of that section which does not breed there, and also the only one which is not resident.

Specimens of its eggs from Vermont measure .95 by .70 of an inch. They are of an oval shape, a little less rounded at one end than at the other.

Sphyropicus varius, var. nuchalis, BAIRD.

THE RED-NAPED WOODPECKER.

_Sphyropicus varius_, var. _nuchalis_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
103, pl. xxxv, figs. 1, 2. _Sphyropicus nuchalis_, BAIRD, Ib.
921.—COUES, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1866, 53.—COOPER, Pr. Cal. Ac.
1861, 122.—CASS. P. A. N. S. 1863, 204.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,
1870, 390. _Picus varius occidentalis_, SUNDEVALL, Consp. Pic.
1866, 34. _Cladoscopus nuchalis_, CAB. & HEIN. 82.

SP. CHAR. Markings, generally, as in _S. varius_. A red nuchal crescent. Belly yellowish-white. The red of the throat extending over and obliterating the black stripe from the lower mandible, except on the side of the jaw. Post-ocular black patch tinged with red. Secondaries with little or no white on outer webs. Tail-feathers black, scarcely varied; the innermost with inner web, as in _varius_. Female similar, but with the chin white; the throat red, bordered, as in male, by a black stripe from the bill to the black pectoral patch. Length, 8.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.50.

HAB. Middle Province of United States. Localities: Fort Mohave (COOPER, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1861, 122); W. Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 53).

This bird, first indicated as a simple variety of _S. varius_, is yet as decidedly distinct and constant in its markings as a large number of what are considered to be valid species. The principal differences from _varius_ have been mentioned above: they consist mainly in the greater development of red, as seen in wider throat-patch; nuchal crescent; tinge on cheek; a greater amount of black, shown in unspotted outer webs of secondaries and blacker tail, and in the paler colors below. The most striking peculiarity is in the half-red throat of the female, which is entirely white in _varius_. The light markings of the back are more distinctly arranged in two lines enclosing a median of black, which show no concealed white spots as in _varius_. The breast is much paler, only slightly tinged with yellow, instead of the rich color to which _S. varius_ owes its trivial name.

Young birds vary in color to the same excessive degree as in _varius_.

HABITS. This form, closely allied to the _varius_, was at first known only from the southern Rocky Mountains. Afterwards a large number of specimens were obtained by Mr. C. Drexler at Fort Bridger, in Utah.

Dr. Cooper procured a female specimen of this species at Fort Mohave, on the 20th of February, 1861, which had probably wandered in a storm from the mountains, and which was the only one he met with. Dr. Heermann states, also, that they were not rare at Fort Yuma. Dr. Cooper’s bird was silent and inactive, as if exhausted by a long flight. He also saw these birds rather common as he crossed the mountains near latitude 48° in September, 1860, and noticed a great similarity in their habits to those of the _S. varius_. They chiefly frequented small deciduous trees, fed in the usual manner of other Woodpeckers, and had also a shrill, unvaried call or note of alarm.

Dr. Coues found this Woodpecker an abundant and a permanent resident in Arizona. Its distinctness as a species he did not question. Everywhere common, it seemed to prefer live cottonwood-trees and willows. Two specimens of this race have been taken in New England,—one in New Hampshire by Mr. William Brewster, the other in Cambridge by Mr. Henshaw.

The Red-naped Woodpecker was found by Mr. Ridgway to be one of the most abundant and characteristic species of the Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains. It was also found, in greater or less numbers, throughout the Great Basin, in the region of his route, and was even obtained on the eastern Sierra Nevada, where, however, only one specimen was seen. Its favorite resort, during summer, was the aspen groves in the mountains, at an altitude averaging about seven thousand feet; and even when pine woods were near the aspens were invariably chosen as nesting-places. Its excavations were always in living trees, and the abandoned ones were taken possession of by Purple Martins and White-bellied Swallows (_Progne subis_ and _Tachycineta bicolor_) as nesting-places. In winter it was found among the cottonwoods and willows of the river valleys. Its habits, manners, and notes are described as almost perfectly similar to those of _S. varius_.

Sphyropicus varius, var. ruber, BAIRD.

THE RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER.