Chapter XXXII: Section IV: Crown rufous; body above, olive-green (23)

_Picus ruber_, GM. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 429.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827,
No. 151.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 179, pl. ccccxvi.—IB. Birds
Amer. IV, 1842, 261, pl. cclxvi.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. Pic. 32.
_Melanerpes ruber_, RICH. List, Pr. Br. Assoc. for
1835.—BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850, 115. _Pilumnus
ruber_, BON. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. _Picus
flaviventris_, VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 67.
_Sphyropicus ruber_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 104.—COOPER &
SUCKLEY, 160.—GRAY, Cat. 51.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 392.
_Cladoscopus ruber_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. Hein. IV, 1863, 82.

SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest; third intermediate between fourth and fifth. Bill brown wax-color. Head and neck all round, and breast, carmine-red. Above black, central line of back from nape to rump spotted with whitish; rump, wing-coverts, and inner web of the inner tail-feathers white, the latter with a series of round black spots. Belly sulphur-yellow, streaked with brown on the sides. Narrow space around and a little in front of the eye black. A yellowish stripe from the nostrils, a short distance below and behind the eye. Length, about 8.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.40. Sexes similar.

HAB. Pacific slopes of the United States.

As stated in the remarks before the synopsis on page 1133, there is every reason for considering this as merely a geographical race of a species, of which _nuchalis_ and _varius_ are the other forms. The differences from _varius_ consist merely in an excessive amount of red, this obliterating the normal pattern of the cephalic portions; and in an increased amount of black, or a manifestation of the melanistic tendency so often distinguishing birds of the Pacific coast region from their eastern co-specific representatives.

_S. nuchalis_ is exactly intermediate in all respects between _S. ruber_ and _S. varius_,—the extremes,—while each of the latter is connected with the intermediate race by specimens combining the characters of both races.

HABITS. The geographical distribution of this form seems to be restricted to the Pacific coast region.

Dr. Cooper only met with these birds three times in Washington Territory. This was in spring and fall. He speaks of them as being very shy, silent, and retiring, remaining among the dense tops of the dark forest trees. Whether it resides and breeds in the Territory he had no means of determining. Dr. Suckley saw but one specimen, and regarded it as confined, for the most part, to the close vicinity of the coast.

Mr. Audubon assigns to it the same distribution, but is only able to give the information in regard to its habits which he derived from the observations of Mr. Nuttall, which, however, do not correspond with those of Dr. Cooper. Mr. Nuttall states that this species, seen in the forests of the Columbia and the Blue Mountains, has most of the habits of the common Red-headed species. He concedes that it is less familiar, and that it keeps generally among the tall fir-trees, in the dead trunks of which it burrows out a hole for a nest, sometimes at a great elevation. On approaching one that was feeding its young in one of these situations, it uttered a loud reverberating _t’rr_, and seemed angry and solicitous at his approach. He adds that this species also inhabits California, as well as the northwest coast up to Nootka, and that it is found eastward as far as the central chain of the Rocky Mountains. An egg taken from a nest which contained four was 1.25 in length and .75 of an inch in breadth. It was smooth, equally rounded at both ends, though somewhat elongated, and pure white.

We are confident that there must be some mistake in this statement. The disproportion between the length and the breadth is unprecedented. Even in the most oblong egg there is rarely so much as twenty-five per cent difference.

Dr. Cooper, in his Birds of California, speaks of it as rather a northern bird, having seen none south of Santa Clara, and there only in the mountains of the Coast Range in early spring.

Dr. Heermann found this form not at all rare in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and occasionally met a stray one among the valleys. Their call-note was similar to the cry of a child in distress, and was very disagreeable. In their quick, restless motions, and their untiring diligence in quest of food, they resemble the rest of the Woodpecker family.

It was noticed by Mr. Ridgway only on the Sierra Nevada, and he is not certain that he saw it on the eastern slope of that range.

Sphyropicus williamsoni, BAIRD.

WILLIAMSON’S WOODPECKER.

_Picus williamsoni_, NEWBERRY, Zoöl. California and Oregon Route,
89, P. R. R. Repts. VI, 1857, pl. xxxiv, fig. 1.—SUNDEVALL,
Consp. 32. _Melanerpes rubrigularis_, SCL. Annals and Mag. N.
H. 3d series, I, Feb. 1858, 127.—Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1858, 2, pl.
cxxxi. _Sphyropicus williamsoni_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
105, pl. xxxiv, f. 1.—COUES, Pr. 1866, 54.—CASS. P. A. N. S.
1863, 204.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 393. _Cladoscopus
williamsoni_, CAB. & HEIN. Mus. Hein. IV, 1863, 82. _Melanerpes
williamsoni_, GRAY, Catal. Br. Mus. 1868, 116.

SP. CHAR. Rich black; middle line of belly yellow; central line of chin and throat above red. A large patch on the wing, rump, and upper tail-coverts, a line from the forehead beneath the eye, and another from its upper border, white. Tail entirely black. Exposed surface of quills without any white, except on the outer primaries. Female with the chin white instead of red. Length, 9.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.70.

HAB. Rocky Mountains to the Cascade Mountains, Sierra Nevada. Localities: West Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).

Head and neck all round, sides of breast and body, upper parts generally, wings, and tail, glossy greenish-black. A well-defined white stripe from the nostrils (including the bristly nasal feathers) passing backwards under the eye; another, nearly parallel, starting at the upper part of the eye, and nearly meeting its fellow on the occiput. Chin and throat red along their central line. A large patch on the wing, including the exposed portions of the middle and greater coverts, white, although the anterior lesser coverts are black. The inner face of the wings, excepting the smaller coverts, is black, banded transversely on the inner primaries with white; the sides of body behind and under tail-coverts white, with broadly V-shaped bands of black, which color on the latter occupies the whole central portion of the feathers. Rump and upper tail-coverts pure white; back with a few indistinct and concealed spots of the same. Quills black; the margins of exterior primaries spotted with white, the inner margins only of the remaining quills with similar but larger and more transverse blotches. Middle of the body, from the breast to the vent, sulphur-yellow, with the exception of the type which had been preserved in alcohol (which sometimes extracts the red of feathers). We have seen no specimen (except young birds, marked female), in a considerable number, without red on the chin, and are inclined to think that both sexes exhibit this character. Young birds from the Rocky Mountains are very similar to the adult, but have the throat marked white, and the inner web of innermost tail-feather banded with the same color. No. 16,090, ♂ ad. (Fort Crook, California), has a single crimson feather in the middle of the forehead.

HABITS. This comparatively new species of Woodpecker was first discovered by Dr. Newberry in the pine forest on the eastern border of the upper Klamath Lake. Its habits appeared to him to be very similar to those of _P. harrisi_ and _P. gairdneri_, which inhabit the same region. The individual he procured was creeping up the trunk of a large yellow pine (_P. brachyptera_), searching for insects in the bark. Its cry was very like that of _P. harrisi_. Although killed by the first fire, a second discharge was required to detach it from the limb to which it clung fast.

According to Dr. Coues, it is resident and not uncommon in the Territory of Arizona, occurring exclusively among the pine-trees. It is said to range from both slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, from as far north at least as Oregon. Fort Whipple is supposed to be about its southern limit. Dr. Coues states that this species possesses the anatomical peculiarities of the _S. varius_, and that its habits entirely correspond. Mr. Allen found it abundant on the sides of Mount Lincoln, in Colorado Territory.

Dr. Cooper met with a straggler of this species in the valley of the Colorado, shot on the 12th of March, 1861. In September, 1863, he found them rather common near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, where he shot two. It has since been met with at Laramie Peak, and near the mouth of the Klamath River.

It was found by Mr. Ridgway on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and again on the Wahsatch Mountains; in both regions inhabiting the pine forests exclusively, and in neither place at all common. It occurred so seldom that Mr. Ridgway could learn but little concerning the peculiarities of its habits, etc. Its common note is a plaintive wailing squeal, much like that of _S. varius_ (common to all the members of the genus), but other notes were heard which were quite peculiar.

Sphyropicus thyroideus, BAIRD.

BROWN-HEADED WOODPECKER.

_Picus thyroideus_, CASSIN, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Dec. 1851, 349
(California).—HEERMANN, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d ser. II, 1853,
270.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 32. _Melanerpes thyroideus_, CASSIN,
Ill. I, 1854, 201, pl. xxxii. _Pilumnus thyroideus_, BON.
Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. _Sphyropicus thyroideus_,
BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 106—ELLIOT, Ill. Birds N. Am. II,
pl.—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54.—CASS. P. A. N. S. 1863,
204.—GRAY, Cat. 52.—ELLIOT, B. Am. I, pl. xxxv.—COOPER, Orn.
Cal. I, 1870, 394. _? ? Picus nataliæ_, MALHERBE, Cab. Journ.
f. Ornith. 1854, 171.

SP. CHAR. About the size of _P. varius_. Head dark ashy-brown; general color ashy-brown; head and neck scarcely marked; middle line of belly sulphur-yellow; rump and upper coverts pure white; rest of body apparently encircled by narrow transverse and continuous bands (crossing the wings and tail) of black, the outer spaces becoming whiter behind; a large round black patch on the breast. No red on top of the head. Male with reddish chin. Length, about 9.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.10.

HAB. Cascade and Coast Ranges of California and Oregon; Sierra Nevada, Wahsatch, and Rocky Mountains. Localities: West Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).

In addition to the characters already assigned, the crown of the head is indistinctly streaked or spotted with black. The under coverts are barred with black. The tail-feathers are black, the inner and outer barred transversely with white on both webs; the shafts, however, entirely black. The quills are all spotted with white on both webs.

The jugular black patch shows more or less indication of the transverse bands, and is sometimes wanting, leaving the bands distinct. In one specimen (38,285 ♀, Laramie Peak) it is remarkably large and almost unbroken, while the black malar stripe is decidedly indicated; on the back the black bars much exceed in width the light ones, which are nearly white. The generic rictal white stripe is usually inappreciable, as also the black maxillary one, although both can be detected in some specimens.

A young bird is not appreciably different from the adult.

HABITS. Dr. Cooper regards this bird as quite a rare species. He has never met with it, and doubts if it is ever found so far south as San Francisco. Mr. J. G. Bell, of New York, was the first to meet with this bird in the Lower Sierra Nevada.

Dr. Heermann procured specimens among the southern mines, near the Colorado River, where they were especially frequenting the pine-trees in search of their food. He saw none of them alight on an oak, though those trees were abundant in that locality. It has since been met with near Fort Crook, and Dr. Cooper thinks it probable they may be more common in the mountains of Eastern Oregon and in those of Central Utah.

Dr. Coues says that it is resident, but very rare, in Arizona. It frequents pine-trees by preference. Its range is said to include both slopes of the Rocky Mountains, from Oregon to the Rio Grande, and probably to Sonora.

Mr. Ridgway met with this rare Woodpecker on the Sierra Nevada and Wahsatch Mountains, where it inhabited the same woods with the _S. williamsoni_; it appeared to have the same manners and notes as that species, but it was so seldom met with that nothing satisfactory could be learned concerning its habits. Its conspicuously barred coloration gives it much the appearance of a _Centurus_, when flying.

GENUS HYLOTOMUS, BAIRD.

_Dryotomus_, MALHERBE, Mém. Ac. Metz, 1849, 322. (Not of SWAINSON,
1831.)
_Dryopicus_, BONAP. Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital. May, 1854. (Not of
MALHERBE.)
_Hylatomus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 107. (Type, _Picus
pileatus_.)
_Phlæotomus_, CAB. & HEIN. 1863. (Same type.)

GEN. CHAR. Bill a little longer than the head; considerably depressed, or broader than high at the base; shaped much as in _Campephilus_, except shorter, and without the bristly feathers directed forwards at the base of the lower jaw. Gonys about half the length of the commissure. Tarsus shorter than any toe, except the inner posterior. Outer posterior toe shorter than the outer anterior, and a little longer than the inner anterior. Inner posterior very short, not half the outer anterior; about half the inner anterior one. Tail long, graduated; the longer feathers much incurved at the tip. Wing longer than the tail, reaching to the middle of the exposed surface of tail; considerably graduated, though pointed; the fourth and fifth quills longest. Color uniform black. Head with pointed occipital crest. A stripe from nasal tufts beneath the eye and down side of neck, throat, lining of wing, and basal portion of under surface of quills, white; some species with the abdomen and sides barred black and brownish-white; others with a white scapular stripe in addition. Male with whole crown and crest and maxillary patch red; female with only the crest red.

This genus is similar in general appearance and size to _Campephilus_, but differs essentially in many respects; the differences being, however, mostly those which distinguish all other Woodpeckers from the species of _Campephilus_, which is unique in the peculiar structure of the tail-feathers, the great graduation of the tertials (sixth, instead of third or fourth, longest), and very long gonys with the flat tuft of hair like feathers at its base. The less development of the outer hind toe in _Hylotomus_, which is about exactly intermediate between the outer and inner anterior, the outer largest, instead of being longest, and having the outer anterior intermediate between it and the inner, the shorter bill, the gonys fully half the length of the commissure, are additional distinctive features.

[Line drawing: _Hylotomus pileatus._
1723 ♀]

Of _Hylotomus_ there are several species in tropical America, all differing, however, in transversely banded lower parts, while some have a broad white scapular stripe; in these features of coloration (but in these only, for the head pattern is always much as in the _H. pileatus_) they resemble closely species of _Campephilus_ (_C. guatemalensis_, _C. albirostris_, _C. malherbei_, etc.,) found in the same region; one (_H. scapularis_, of Mexico) even has a whitish ivory-like bill. They may all be distinguished from the species of _Campephilus_, however, by the generic differences.

Hylotomus pileatus, BAIRD.

BLACK WOODCOCK; LOG-COCK.

_Picus pileatus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I. 1766, 173.—VIEILLOT, Ois. Am.
Sept. II, 1807, 58, pl. cx.—WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 27, pl.
xxix, f. 2.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog.
II, 1834, 74; V, 533, pl. cxi.—IB. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 266,
pl. cclvii.—MAXIM. Cab. Jour. VI. 1858, 352.—SUNDEVALL,
Consp. 8. _Picus (Dryotomus) pileatus_, SW. F. Bor. Am. II,
1831, 304. _Dryotomus pileatus_, BP. List, 1838. _Dryocopus
pileatus_, BONAP. Consp. Av. 1850, 132. _Dryopicus pileatus_,
BON. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. I.—SCLATER, Catal. 1862,
332.—GRAY, Catal. 59. _Pileated Woodpecker_, PENNANT.—LATHAM.
_Hylotomus pileatus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 107.—LORD, Pr.
R. Art. Inst. IV, 212.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 161.—DRESSER, Ibis,
1865, 469 (E. Texas, but not Rio Grande).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,
1870, 396. _Ceophloeus pileatus_, CAB. Jour. 1862, 176.
(_Hylotoma_, preoccupied by Latreille!!) CAB. & HEIN. Mus.
Hein. IV, II, 1863.—SAMUELS, 99.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 302.

SP. CHAR. Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest; third intermediate between sixth and seventh. Bill blue-black; more horn-color beneath. General color of body, wings, and tail dull greenish-black. A narrow white streak from just above the eye to the occiput; a wider one from the nostril feathers (inclusive), under the eye and along the side of the head and neck; sides of the breast (concealed by the wing), axillaries, and under wing-coverts, and concealed bases of all the quills, with chin and beneath the head, white, tinged with sulphur-yellow. Entire crown from the base of the bill to a well-developed occipital crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the lower jaw, scarlet-red. A few faint white crescents on the sides of the body and on the abdomen. Longer primaries generally tipped with white. Length, about 18.00; wing, 9.50. _Female_ without the red on the cheek, and the anterior half of that on the top of the head replaced by black.

HAB. Wooded parts of North America from Atlantic to Pacific. Localities: E. Texas (not Rio Grande!), (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 469, breeds).

Specimens of this species from Fort Liard in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and from Puget Sound region, are nearly four inches longer than those from the Southern Atlantic States, and are scarcely exceeded in size by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Specimens from the northwest coast region (Columbia River, British Columbia, etc.) have no trace of the white spots on ends of outer primaries, always found in eastern specimens.

HABITS. No member of this large family has a wider distribution than the Pileated Woodpecker, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the extremest limits of the northern forests, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It seems to be a resident everywhere but in its extreme northern localities, rather than a migratory species. There are specimens in the Smithsonian collection from Nelson River, on the north, to St. Johns River, Florida, on the south, and from Pennsylvania on the east to the Rio Grande and the Columbia on the west. Sir John Richardson (_Fauna Boreali-Americana_, II, p. 304) speaks of it as resident all the year in the interior of the fur countries, up to the 62d or 63d parallels, rarely appearing near Hudson’s Bay, but frequenting the gloomiest recesses of the forests that skirt the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Woodhouse, in his Report on the natural history of the expedition down the Zuñi and the Colorado Rivers, speaks of this Woodpecker as having been found abundant in the Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico. Neither Dr. Gambel nor Dr. Heermann give it in their lists of the birds of California, nor does Dr. Newberry mention meeting with it in his Report of the zoölogy of his route. Dr. Suckley, however, speaks of the Log-Cock as abundant in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, Washington Territory, during summer, and Dr. Cooper also mentions it as an abundant and constant resident in the forests of the Territory. I have occasionally met with it in the wilder portions of New Hampshire and Maine, but have nowhere been so fortunate as to observe its nest or its breeding-habits. It has always seemed a very shy bird, difficult of approach, always keeping at a safe distance, and ever greeting your attempts for a nearer view with a loud, cackling cry, not unlike a derisive laugh.

According to the observations of Wilson, their eggs are deposited in the hole of a tree dug out by themselves, no other materials being used but the soft chips of rotten wood. The female lays six eggs, of a snowy whiteness, and they are said to raise two broods in a season.

Mr. Audubon states that it almost always breeds in the interior of the forest, and frequently on trees placed in deep swamps over the water, appearing to give a preference to the southern side of the tree, on which side the hole is usually found to which they retreat in the winter and during stormy weather. The hole is sometimes bored perpendicularly, but occasionally in the form of that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The usual depth is from twelve to eighteen inches, the breadth from two and a half to three, and at the bottom five or six. He believed they raise but a single brood in a season. The young follow their parents a long while, sometimes until the return of spring.

Rev. Dr. Bachman gives an interesting account of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers building a nest in an old elm-tree in a swamp, and occupying it the first year. Early the next spring two Bluebirds took possession of it, and there had young. Before they were half grown the Woodpeckers returned to the place, and, despite the cries and reiterated attacks of the Bluebirds, took out the young and carried them away to some distance. Next, the nest itself was disposed of, the hole cleaned and enlarged, and there they raised their brood. The tree was large, but so situated that Dr. Bachman could reach the nest from the branches of another. The hole was eighteen inches deep, and he could touch the bottom with his hand. The eggs, six in number, were laid on fragments of chips expressly left by the birds, and were large, white, and translucent. Before the Woodpeckers began to sit, he robbed them of their eggs to see if they would lay a second time. They waited a few days as if undecided, and then he heard the female at work again, deepening the hole and making it broader at the bottom. She soon recommenced laying, this time depositing five eggs. He suffered her to bring out her young, both birds alternately incubating, and each visiting the other at intervals, looking in at the hole to see if all were right and well there, and flying off afterwards in search of food. When the young were old enough, he took them home and endeavored to raise them. Three died, refusing all food. With two he was more successful. But even these he found untamable and destructive and troublesome pets, which he was at last glad to release.

Dr. Cooper, who observed this species in Washington Territory, discovered a pair early in April on Whitby’s Island, burrowing out a hole for their nest in a dead trunk, about thirty feet from the ground. They worked alternately, and were very watchful, keeping perfectly silent while they heard any noise near by. He found the place by noticing chips on the bushes below, and after watching silently for some time, one of them began to work, now and then protruding its bill full of chips, and, after cautiously looking round, dropping them.

According to Mr. C. S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt., the Pileated Woodpecker is very rare in Vermont, and extremely shy. It is difficult to approach one nearer than from fifteen to twenty rods, except by surprise. He adds that in only a single instance has he been able to shoot one. This fell with a broken wing. Before he could reach it, the bird commenced climbing a tree, and nearly escaped. When overtaken, it fought furiously, and wounded Mr. Paine severely in the hand, setting up at the same time a loud outcry, not unlike that of a domestic hen. He has never met with its nest, although he has several times seen the young when just able to leave it. The elder Mr. Paine states that, some fifty years previous, this species was abundant in Vermont, and not at all timid, and is of the opinion that their present shyness is all that exempts them from extermination.

Mr. Dresser found this Woodpecker resident and quite numerous in Texas near all the large rivers, where the timber is heavy. A few were seen on the Medina, and their eggs obtained there, but they were not abundant in that district. On the Colorado and Brazos Rivers these birds were very common, and Mr. Dresser found several nests in huge cottonwood-trees, but had no means of getting to them.

Mr. J. K. Lord assigns to this species a wide western range, being common both east and west of the Cascades, and on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. He met with it north as far as Fort Rupert in Vancouver Island, and south through Oregon and California. He found them at Colville during the winter. He states that they nest in May, generally in a tall dead pine-tree, at a great height.

For my first specimens of the eggs of this species I am under obligations to Dr. Cornelius Kollock, of Cheraw, S. C. They were obtained by him from excavations made in large trees at the height of about twenty-five feet from the ground, and in localities at no great distance from the inhabited parts of the country.

The eggs of this species from South Carolina and Florida are of a very brilliant crystalline whiteness, of a rounded-oval shape, and measure 1.25 inches in length by 1.02 in breadth. Northern specimens are probably larger.

SECTION CENTUREÆ.

The United States genera of this section are very similar to each other, and may be most easily distinguished by color, as follows:—

Centurus. Back and wings banded transversely with black and white. Crown more or less red; rest of head with under parts grayish, and with red or yellow tinge on the middle of the abdomen. Rump white.

Melanerpes. Upper parts uniform black, without bands, with or without a white rump; variable beneath, but without transverse bands.

GENUS CENTURUS, SWAINSON.

_Centurus_, SW. Class. Birds, II, 1837, 310. (Type, _C. carolinus_.)
_Zebrapicus_, MALH. Mém. Acad. Metz, 1849, 360. (Type, _C.
carolinus_.)

GEN. CHAR. Bill about the length of the head, or a little longer; decidedly compressed, except at the extreme base. A lateral ridge starting a little below the culmen at the base of the bill, and angular for half the length of the bill, then becoming obsolete, though traceable nearly to the tip. Culmen considerably curved from the base; gonys nearly straight. Nostrils very broad, elliptical; situated about midway on the side of the mandible, near the base; partly concealed. Outer pairs of toes unequal, the anterior toe longest. Wings long, broad; third to fifth primaries equal and longest. Tail-feathers rather narrow, stiffened.

The species are all banded above transversely with black and white; the rump white. The head and under parts are brown, or grayish, the latter sometimes much the lighter. The belly with a red or yellow tinge. The under tail-coverts with V-shaped dark marks. The North American species of _Centurus_ may be arranged as follows:—

C. carolinus. Middle of belly reddish; whole crown and
nape red in male. Nape, only, red in female.

Forehead reddish; beneath soiled ashy-white; abdomen
pinkish-red; crissum with sagittate marks of dusky.
Wing, 5.25; tail, 3.80; bill, 1.30. _Hab._ Eastern
Province United States var. _carolinus_.

Forehead smoky-white; beneath smoky-olive, middle of
abdomen carmine-red; crissum with broad transverse bars
of dusky. Wing, 4.50; tail, 2.60; bill, 1.08. _Hab._
Central America; Venezuela var. _tricolor_.[129]

C. aurifrons. Middle of belly yellowish; red of crown, in
male, confined to an ovoid vertical patch. Nape and
forehead gamboge-yellow; white of rump and upper
tail-coverts immaculate. _Female_ without any red on the
crown.

Inner webs of middle tail-feathers unvariegated black.
Lower parts dirty ashy-whitish, abdomen dilute
gamboge-yellow. Wing, 5.20; tail, 3.60; bill, 1.50.
_Hab._ Eastern Mexico, north to the Rio Grande var. _aurifrons_.

Inner webs of middle tail-feathers spotted with white.
Lower parts smoky-olive, belly bright orange-yellow.
Wing, 4.70; tail, 2.80; bill, 1.16. _Hab._ Costa Rica
var. _hoffmanni_.[130]

C. uropygialis. Middle of the belly yellowish. Nape and
forehead soft smoky grayish-brown. _Female_ without red or
yellow on head. White of rump and upper tail-coverts with
transverse dusky bars. Inner webs of middle tail-feathers
spotted with white. Wing, 5.30; tail, 3.70; bill, 1.35.
_Hab._ Western Mexico, north into Colorado, region of
Middle Province of United States.

[129] _Centurus carolinus_, var. _tricolor_. _Picus
tricolor_, WAGL. Isis, 1829, 512. _Centurus tri._ SCL.
Catal. Am. B. 1862, 343. _C. subelegans_, SCL. P. Z. S.
1855, 162; 1856, 143.

[130] _Centurus aurifrons_, var. _hoffmanni_. _Centurus
hoffmanni_, CABANIS, Journ. Sept. 1862, 322 (Costa Rica).

Centurus carolinus, BONAP.

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER.

_Picus carolinus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 174.—WILSON, Am. Orn.
I, 1808, 113, pl. vii, f. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 169, pl.
ccccxv.—IB. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 270, pl. cclxx.—MAX. Cab.
Jour. 1858, 418.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 53. _Centurus carolinus_,
SW. BP. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, Av. 1850, 119.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 109.—CAB. Jour. 1862, 324.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865,
469 (resident in Texas).—SCL. Cat. 1862, 342.—GRAY, Cat.
99.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 306. _Centurus carolinensis_, SW. Birds,
II, 1837, 310 (error). _Picus griseus_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept.
II, 1807, 52, pl. cxvi. _? Picus erythrauchen_, WAGLER, Syst.
Avium, 1827. _Picus zebra_, BODDÆRT, Tabl. pl. enl. (Gray,
genera).

SP. CHAR. Third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal, and longest; second, or outermost, and seventh about equal. Top of the head and nape crimson-red. Forehead whitish, strongly tinged with light red, a shade of which is also seen on the cheek, still stronger on the middle of the belly. Under parts brownish-white, with a faint wash of yellowish on the belly. Back, rump, and wing-coverts banded black and white; upper tail-covert white, with occasional blotches. Tail-feathers black; first transversely banded with white; second less so; all the rest with whitish tips. Inner feathers banded with white on the inner web; the outer web with a stripe of white along the middle. Length, 9.75; wing, about 5.00. Female with the crown ashy; forehead pale red; nape bright red.

[Line drawing: _Centurus carolinus._
865 ♂]

HAB. North America, from Atlantic coast to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Localities: Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 469, resident).

Specimens vary considerably in size (with latitude), and in the tinge of reddish on chin, breast, etc. The width of the dorsal bands differs in different specimens. The rump is banded; upper tail-coverts are generally immaculate, but are sometimes dashed with black. Specimens from the Mississippi Valley are generally more brightly colored than those from the Atlantic States, the lower parts more strongly tinged with red. Florida examples are smaller than northern ones, the black bars broader, the lower parts deeper ashy and strongly tinged with red, but of a more purplish shade than in western ones.

HABITS. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is distributed throughout North America, from the Atlantic Coast to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. It is, however, much more abundant in the more southern and western portions. In the collections of the Smithsonian Institution none are recorded from farther north than Pennsylvania on the east and Nebraska Territory on the west, while others were obtained as far south as Florida. Nor am I aware that it is found, except very rarely, north of Pennsylvania on the Atlantic coast. I have never met with it in Eastern Massachusetts, although Mr. Audubon speaks of it as breeding from Maryland to Nova Scotia. Dr. Woodhouse found it common in the Indian Territory and in Texas. Wilson speaks of having found it abundant in Upper Canada, and in the northern parts of the State of New York. He also refers to its inhabiting the whole Atlantic States as far as Georgia and the southern extremity of Florida. Its absence in Eastern Massachusetts was noticed by Mr. Nuttall. It is not given by Thompson or Paine as one of the birds of Vermont, nor does Lieutenant Bland mention it as one of the birds of Nova Scotia, and it is not included by Sir John Richardson in the _Fauna Boreali-Americana_.

Mr. Audubon speaks of it as generally more confined to the interior of forests than the Hairy Woodpecker, especially during the breeding-season. He further states that he never met with its nest in Louisiana or South Carolina, but that it was not rare in Kentucky, and that, from the State of Maryland to Nova Scotia, it breeds in all convenient places, usually more in the woods than out of them. He also states that he has found the nests in orchards in Pennsylvania, generally not far from the junction of a branch with the trunk. He describes the hole as bored in the ordinary manner. The eggs are seldom more than four in number, and measure 1.06 inches in length and .75 of an inch in breadth. They are of an elliptical form, smooth, pure white, and translucent. They are not known to raise more than one brood in a season.

Wilson speaks of this species as more shy and less domestic than the Red-headed or any of the other spotted Woodpeckers, and also as more solitary. He adds that it prefers the largest high-timbered woods and the tallest decayed trees of the forest, seldom appearing near the ground, on the fences, or in orchards or open fields. In regard to their nesting, he says that the pair, in conjunction, dig out a circular cavity for the nest in the lower side of some lofty branch that makes a considerable angle with the horizon. Sometimes they excavate this in the solid wood, but more generally in a hollow limb, some fifteen inches above where it becomes solid. This is usually done early in April. The female lays five eggs, of a pure white, or almost semi-transparent. The young generally make their appearance towards the latter part of May. Wilson was of the opinion that they produced two broods in a season.

Mr. Dresser found this bird resident and abundant in Texas. It is also equally abundant in Louisiana and in Florida, and Mr. Ridgway considers it very common in Southern Illinois. Neither Mr. Boardman nor Mr. Verrill have found it in Maine. Mr. McIlwraith has, however, taken three specimens at Hamilton, Canada West, May 3, near Chatham. Mr. Allen gives it as a summer visitant in Western Massachusetts, having seen one on the 13th of May, 1863. It has also been taken several times in Connecticut, by Professor Emmons, who met with it, during the breeding-season, in the extreme western part of the State. Mr. Lawrence has found it near New York City, and Mr. Turnbull in Eastern Pennsylvania.

The eggs vary from an oblong to a somewhat rounded oval shape, are of a bright crystalline whiteness, and their measurements average 1.02 inches in length by .88 of an inch in breadth.

Centurus aurifrons, GRAY.

YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.

_Picus aurifrons_, WAGLER, Isis, 1829, 512.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. Pic.
53. _Centurus aurifrons_, GRAY, Genera.—CABANIS, Jour. 1862,
323.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 399. _Centurus flaviventris_,
SWAINSON, Anim. in Menag. 1838 (2½ centenaries), 354.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 110, pl. xlii.—HEERMANN, P. R. Rep. X, c,
18.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 469 (resident in Texas).—IB. Rep.
Mex. Bound. II, 5, pl. iv. _Centurus elegans_, LAWRENCE, Ann.
N. Y. Lyc. V, May, 1851, 116. _Centurus santacruzi_, LAWRENCE,
Ann. N. Y. Lyc. V, 1851, 123 (not of Bonap.). _Picus ornatus_,
LESS. Rev. Zoöl. 1839, 102.

SP. CHAR. Fourth and fifth quills nearly equal; third a little shorter; longer than the fourth. Back banded transversely with black and white; rump and upper tail-coverts pure white. Crown with a subquadrate spot of crimson, about half an inch wide and long; and separated from the gamboge-yellow at the base of the bill by dirty white, from the orbit and occiput by brownish-ash. Nape half-way round the neck orange-yellow. Under part generally, and sides of head, dirty white. Middle of belly gamboge-yellow. Tail-feathers all entirely black, except the outer, which has some obscure bars of white. Length about 9.50; wing, 5.00. Female without the red of the crown.

HAB. Rio Grande region of the United States, south into Mexico. Probably Arizona. Localities: Orizaba (SCL. P. Z. S. 1860, 252); Texas, south of San Antonio (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 469, resident).

Young birds are not different from adults, except in showing indication of dark shaft-lines beneath, becoming broader behind on the sides. The yellow of the nape extends over the whole side of the head.

HABITS. This beautiful Woodpecker is abundant throughout the valley of the Rio Grande, from Eagle Pass to its mouth; how far to the west within our boundaries it occurs, I am not able to state. It is common throughout Mexico, and was found in the Guatemalan collection of Van Patten, though not mentioned by Sclater and Salvin. Dr. Woodhouse, in his Report on the zoölogy of Captain Sitgreaves’s expedition, speaks of finding it quite abundant in the neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas. He adds that west of the Rio San Pedro he did not meet with it. He speaks of it as having a loud, sharp cry, which it utters as it flies from tree to tree. He observed it mostly on the trunks of the mesquite (_Algarobia_), diligently searching in the usual manner of Woodpeckers. In the Report upon the birds of the Mexican Boundary Survey, it is mentioned by Mr. Clark as abundant on the Lower Rio Grande, as very shy, and as keeping chiefly about the mesquite. Lieutenant Couch speaks of it as very common throughout Tamaulipas.

Mr. Dresser found the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker plentiful from the Rio Grande to San Antonio, and as far north and east as the Guadaloupe, after which he lost sight of it. Wherever the mesquite-trees were large, there it was sure to be found, and very sparingly elsewhere. Near San Antonio it is quite common, but not so much so as the _C. carolinus_. At Eagle Pass, however, it was the more abundant of the two. He found it breeding near San Antonio, boring for its nest-hole into a mesquite-tree. Mr. Dresser was informed by Dr. Heermann, who has seen many of their nests, that he never found them in any other tree.

These birds were found breeding by Dr. Berlandier, and his collection. contained quite a number of their eggs. Nothing was found among his papers in relation to their habits or their manner of breeding. Their eggs, procured by him, are of an oblong-oval shape, and measure 1.05 inches in length by .85 of an inch in breadth.

Centurus uropygialis, BAIRD.

GILA WOODPECKER.

_Centurus uropygialis_, BAIRD, Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854,
120 (Bill Williams River, N. M.)—IB. Birds N. Am. 1858, III,
pl. xxxvi.—CAB. Jour. 1862, 330.—SUNDEVALL, Consp.
54.—KENNERLY, P. R. R. X, b, pl. xxxvi.—HEERMANN, X, c, 17.
COUES, Pr. Avi. 1866, 54 (S. Arizona).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1,
1870, 399. _Centurus hypopolius_, (BP.) PUCHERAN, Rev. et Mag.
1853, 163 (not _Picus (Centurus) hypopolius_, WAGLER).
_Zebrapicus kaupii_, MALHERBE, 1855.—GRAY, Catal. Br. Mex.
_Centurus sulfureiventer_, REICHENBACH, Handbuch, Picinæ, Oct.
1854, 410, figs. 4411, 4412.

SP. CHAR. Third, fourth, and fifth quills longest, and about equal. Back, rump, and upper tail-coverts transversely barred with black and white, purest on the two latter. Head and neck all round pale dirty-brown, or brownish-ash, darkest above. A small subquadrate patch of red on the middle of the crown, separated from the bill by dirty white. Middle of the abdomen gamboge-yellow; under tail-coverts and anal region strongly barred with black. First and second outer tail-feathers banded black and white, as is also the inner web of the inner tail-feather; the outer web of the latter with a white stripe. Length, about 9.00; wing, 5.00. Female with the head uniform brownish-ash, without any red or yellow.

HAB. Lower Colorado River of the West, to Cape St. Lucas. South to Mazatlan. Localities: W. Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).

HABITS. This species was first discovered by Dr. Kennerly in his route along the 35th parallel, and described by Professor Baird, in 1854. The Doctor encountered it almost continually during the entire march along the Big Sandy, Bill Williams Fork, and the Great Colorado; but it was so very shy that he had great difficulty in procuring specimens. Seated in the top of the tree, it was ever on guard; and, upon the approach of danger, flew away, accompanying its flight with the utterance of very peculiar notes. Its flight was in an undulating line, like that of other birds of this class.

Dr. Heermann found this Woodpecker abundant on the banks of the Gila River among the mesquite-trees. The giant cactus, often forty feet high, which grows abundantly on the arid hillsides throughout that whole section of country, was frequently found filled with holes bored out by this bird. The pith of the plant is extracted until a chamber of suitable size is obtained, when the juice exuding from the wounded surface hardens, and forms a smooth dry coating to the cavity, thus making a convenient place for the purposes of incubation. At Tucson, in Arizona, he found it frequenting the cornfields, where it might be seen alighting on the old hedge-posts in search of insects. Its note, he adds, resembles very much that of the Red-headed Woodpecker. He afterwards met with this bird in California, in considerable numbers, on the Colorado. Besides its ordinary notes, resembling those of the _Melanerpes erythrocephalus_, it varies them with a soft plaintive cry, as if hurt or wounded. He found their stomachs filled with the white gelatinous berry of a parasitic plant which grows abundantly on the mesquite-trees, and the fruit of which forms the principal food of many species of birds during the fall.

Dr. Coues gives this bird as rare and probably accidental in the immediate vicinity of Fort Whipple, but as a common bird in the valleys of the Gila and of the Lower Colorado, where it has the local name of _Suwarrow_, or _Saguaro_, on account of its partiality for the large cactuses, with the juice of which plant its plumage is often found stained.

Dr. Cooper found this Woodpecker abundant in winter at Fort Mohave, when they feed chiefly on the berries of the mistletoe, and are very shy. He rarely saw them pecking at the trees, but they seemed to depend for a living on insects, which were numerous on the foliage during the spring. They have a loud note of alarm, strikingly similar to that of the _Phainopepla nitens_, which associated with them in the mistletoe-boughs.

About the 25th of March he found them preparing their nests in burrows near the dead tops of trees, none of them, so far as he saw, being accessible. By the last of May they had entirely deserted the mistletoe, and were probably feeding their young on insects.

GENUS MELANERPES, SWAINSON.

_Melanerpes_, SWAINSON, F. B. A. II, 1831. (Type, _Picus
erythrocephalus_.)
_Melampicus_ (Section 3), MALHERBE, Mém. Ac. Metz, 1849, 365.
_Asyndesmus_, COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 55. (Type, _Picus torquatus_.)

GEN. CHAR. Bill about equal to the head; broader than high at the base, but becoming compressed immediately anterior to the commencement of the gonys. Culmen and gonys with a moderately decided angular ridge; both decidedly curved from the very base. A rather prominent acute ridge commences at the base of the mandible, a little below the ridge of the culmen, and proceeds but a short distance anterior to the nostrils (about one third of the way), when it sinks down, and the bill is then smooth. The lateral outlines are gently concave from the basal two thirds; then gently convex to the tip, which does not exhibit any abrupt bevelling. Nostrils open, broadly oval; not concealed by the feathers, nor entirely basal. Fork of chin less than half lower jaw. The outer pair of toes equal. Wings long, broad; lengthened. Tail-feathers broad, with lengthened points.

The species all have the back black, without any spots or streaks anywhere.

[Line drawing: _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._
883 ♀]

Dr. Coues places _M. torquatus_ in a new genus, _Asyndesmus_, characterized by a peculiar texture of the under part and nuchal collar, in which the fibres are disconnected on their terminal portion, enlarged and stiffened, almost bristle-like; otherwise the characters are much as in _Melanerpes_. It should, however, be noted, that the feathers of the red portion of the head in the other species have the same texture.

Species and Varieties.

A. Sexes similar. _Young_ very different from the adult.

M. torquatus. Feathers of the lower parts, as well as of
frontal, lateral, and under portions of the head, with
the fibres bristle-like. (_Asyndesmus_, COUES.) Upper
parts wholly uniform, continuous, very metallic
blackish-green. _Adult._ Forehead, lores, cheeks, and
chin deep crimson, of a burnt-carmine tint; jugulum,
breast, and a ring entirely around the nape,
grayish-white; abdomen light carmine. Back glossed with
purplish-bronze. _Young_ without the red of the head,
and lacking the grayish nuchal collar; abdomen only
tinged with red, no purple or bronze tints above. Wing,
6.70; tail, 4.50. _Hab._ Western Province of the United
States, from the Black Hills to the Pacific.

M. erythrocephalus. Feathers generally soft, blended;
those of the whole head and neck with stiffened and
bristle-like fibres in the adult. Secondaries, rump, and
upper tail-coverts, with whole lower parts from the
neck, continuous pure white. Two lateral tail-feathers
tipped with white. _Adult._ Whole head and neck bright
venous-crimson or blood-red, with a black convex
posterior border across the jugulum; back, wings, and
tail glossy blue-black. _Young._ Head and neck grayish,
streaked with dusky; back and scapulars grayish, spotted
with black; secondaries with two or three black bands;
breast tinged with grayish, and with sparse dusky
streaks. Wing, 5.90; tail, 3.90. _Hab._ Eastern Province
of the United States, west to the Rocky Mountains.

B. Sexes dissimilar; young like the adult.

M. formicivorus. Forehead and a broad crescent across
the middle of the throat (the two areas connected by a
narrow strip across the lore), white, more or less
tinged with sulphur-yellow. Rump, upper tail-coverts,
abdomen, sides, and crissum, with patch on base of
primaries, pure white, the sides and breast with black
streaks. Other portions glossy blue-black.

♂. Whole crown and nape carmine. ♀ with the occiput
and nape alone red.

_More than the anterior half of the pectoral band
immaculate._

♀ with the white frontal, black coronal, and red
occipital bands of about equal width. Forehead and
throat only slightly tinged with sulphur-yellow.
Wing, 5.80; tail, 3.90; bill, 1.27. _Hab._ Pacific
Province of United States, and Northern and Western
Mexico var. _formicivorus_.

♀ with the white frontal band only about half as
wide as the black coronal, which is only about half
as wide as the red occipital, band or patch.
Forehead and throat bright sulphur-yellow. Wing,
5.40; tail, 3.65; bill, 1.23. _Hab._ Lower
California var. _angustifrons_.

_Nearly the whole of the black pectoral band
variegated with white streaks._

Relative width of the white, black, and red areas on
the crown as in _formicivorus_. Wing, 5.50; tail,
3.75; bill, 1.22. _Hab._ Middle America, south of
Orizaba and Mirador var. _striatipectus_.[131]

♂. Nape, only, red (as in females of preceding races);
♀ without any red.

Whole breast streaked, the black and white being in
about equal amount. Wing, 5.70; tail, 3.90; bill,
1.20. _Hab._ New Granada var. _flavigula_.[132]

[131] _Melanerpes formicivorus_, var. _striatipectus_,
RIDGWAY. In view of the very appreciable difference from the
other races named, it appears necessary to name this one, in
order that it may rank equally with the rest. The almost
entirely streaked breast is only an approach to what we see,
in its extreme phase, in the var. _flavigula_. The black
vertex of the female appears broader than in specimens of
var. _formicivorus_.

[132] _Melanerpes formicivorus_, var. _flavigula_, NATT.
_Melampicus flavigula_ (NATT.), MALH. Rev. Zoöl. 1849, 542,
Monog. Pic. II, 202, pl. xcix, f. 5, 6. _Melanerpes
flavigularis_, SCL. P. Z. S. 1856, 161. This can only be
considered the melanistic extreme of a species of which the
var. _formicivorus_ is the rubescent one, the transition
being gradual through the var. _striatipectus_ of the
intermediate region.

Melanerpes torquatus, BONAP.

LEWIS’S WOODPECKER.

_Picus torquatus_, WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 31, pl. xx.—WAGLER,
Syst. Av. 1827, No. 82.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 176, pl.
ccccxvi.—IB. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 280, pl.
cclxxii.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 51. _Melanerpes torquatus_, BP.
Consp. 1850, 115.—HEERMANN, J. A. N. Sc. Phil. 2d ser. II,
1853, 270.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, 90, in P. R. R.
Surv. VI, 1857.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 115.—COOPER & SUCKLEY,
161.—CASSIN. Pr. A. N. S. 1863, 327.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst.
IV, 1864, 112 (nesting).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 406.
_Picus montanus_, ORD. in Guthrie’s Geog. 2d Am. ed. II, 1815,
316. _Picus lewisii_, DRAPIEZ. (Gray.) _Asyndesmus torquatus_,
COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 55.

SP. CHAR. Feathers on the under parts bristle-like. Fourth quill longest; then third and fifth. Above dark glossy-green. Breast, lower part of the neck, and a narrow collar all round, hoary grayish-white. Around the base of the bill and sides of the head to behind the eyes, dark crimson. Belly blood-red, streaked finely with hoary whitish. Wings and tail entirely uniform dark glossy-green. Female similar. Length about 10.50; wing, 6.50. Young without the nuchal collar, and the red of head replaced by black.

HAB. Western America from Black Hills to Pacific.

The peculiarities in the feathers of the under parts have already been adverted to. This structure appears to be essentially connected with the red feathers, since these have the same texture in the other species of the genus, wherever the color occurs. The remark may perhaps apply generally to the red feathers of most, if not all, Woodpeckers, and may be connected with some chemical or physical condition yet to be determined.

HABITS. Lewis’s Woodpecker would seem to have a distribution throughout the Pacific Coast, from the sea-shore to the mountains, and from Puget Sound to the Gulf of California, and extending to the eastern border of the Great Plains, within the limits of the United States. They were first observed by Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, in their memorable journey to the Pacific. Subsequently Mr. Nuttall met with them in his westward journey, in the central chain of the Rocky Mountains. This was in the month of July. Among the cedar and pine woods of Bear River, on the edge of Upper California, he found them inhabiting the decayed trunks of the pine-trees, and already feeding their young. Afterwards, at the close of August, he met them in flocks on the plains, sixty miles up the Wahlamet. He describes them as very unlike Woodpeckers in their habits, perching in dense flocks, like Starlings, neither climbing branches nor tapping in the manner of their tribe, but darting after insects and devouring berries, like Thrushes. He saw them but seldom, either in the dense forests of the Columbia or in any settled part of California.

Townsend speaks of their arriving about the first of May on Bear River and the Columbia. Both sexes incubate, according to his observations.

Dr. Gambel first observed this Woodpecker in a belt of oak timber near the Mission of St. Gabriel, in California, and states that it was abundant. He also describes its habits as peculiar, and unlike the generality of Woodpeckers. Dr. Heermann, too, speaks of finding it in all the parts of California which he visited. Dr. Newberry, in his Notes on the zoölogy of Lieutenant Williamson’s expedition, refers to it as most unlike the California Woodpecker in the region it occupies and in its retiring habits. He describes it as seeming to choose, for its favorite haunts, the evergreen forests upon the rocky declivities of the Cascade and Rocky Mountains. He first observed it in Northern California, but subsequently noticed it in the mountains all the way to the Columbia. Though often seen in low elevations, it was evidently alpine in its preferences, and was found most frequently near the line of perpetual snow; and when crossing the snow lines, in the mountain-passes, it was often observed flying far above the party. He describes it as being always shy, and difficult to shoot.

Dr. S. W. Woodhouse describes this species as being common in the Indian Territory and in New Mexico; while Dr. Cooper, in his Report on the zoölogy of Washington Territory, speaks of it as being common, during summer, in all the interior districts, but seldom or never approaching the coast. It arrives at Puget Sound early in May, and some even remain, during mild winters, in the Territory. According to his account, it burrows holes for its nests at all heights from the ground, but commonly in dead trees. The eggs are described as pure white, and, when fresh, translucent, like those of all the Woodpecker tribe, and hardly distinguishable in size and general appearance from those of the Golden-winged Woodpecker (_Colaptes auratus_). Its harsh call is rarely uttered in summer, when it seems to seek concealment for itself and nest. The flocks of young, which in fall associate together to the number of eight or ten, are more noisy. Dr. Suckley, in the same Report (page 162), speaks of this Woodpecker as being very abundant throughout the more open portions of the timbered region of the northwest coast, preferring oak openings and groves. At Fort Dalles, on the Columbia, they are extremely numerous, not only breeding there during summer, but also found as winter residents. Their breeding-places are generally holes in oak and other trees, which, from the appearance of all he examined, seemed to have been excavated for the purpose. At Puget Sound this species was found less frequently than at Fort Dalles, on the Columbia. At the latter place they were constant winter residents. Dr. Suckley also speaks of them as being semi-gregarious in their habits.