Queen Charlotte Islands, as a full species, _Dryobates picoideus_. He
says it can be distinguished from all other members of the _villosus_
group by the black markings on the back and characterizes it as
“similar in general to _Dryobates v. harrisi_; bill slightly smaller;
middle of back barred and spotted with black; flanks streaked with
black.” He says that this woodpecker is not abundant on the islands;
during a period of over a month spent in active collecting he saw only
six, all of which were collected.
I cannot find that anything has been published on the habits of the
Queen Charlotte woodpecker, which probably do not differ essentially
from those of _harrisi_, to which it is closely related and which
inhabits a similar, humid coast environment. There are a number of
skins of this race in various collections, but, so far as I know, no
authentic eggs have ever found their way into any American collection.
Very little exploration has been done in the interior of the Queen
Charlotte Islands, and we know very little about the habits of its
birds.
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS TERRAENOVAE Batchelder
NEWFOUNDLAND WOODPECKER
HABITS
Charles F. Batchelder (1908), who discovered and described this race of
the hairy woodpecker, characterized it as--
Similar to typical _Dryobates villosus_, but slightly
larger, the black areas of the upper parts increased, the
white areas reduced both in number and in size, especially
in the remiges and wing coverts. * * * _Dryobates villosus
terraenovae_ is much smaller than _D. v. leucomelas_, and
is, of course, even more remote from it in coloring than
from true _villosus_. Between it and _D. v. hyloscopus_
and _D. v. monticola_ there is a striking resemblance in
coloring, but the wide area--occupied throughout its extent
either by _villosus_ or by _leucomelas_--that intervenes
between the ranges of these two Western subspecies and that
of _terraenovae_, precludes the possibility of immediate
intergradation, while the utter dissimilarity of the
climatic conditions of their respective habitats forbids
the supposition that like causes in environment have
developed like characters; apparently this is a case where
superficial resemblances have arisen entirely independently
of climatic influences.
I found the Newfoundland woodpecker fairly common in the heavily
timbered valleys of the Fox Island and Sandy Rivers in Newfoundland
in 1912. The timber in the flat river bottom and on the islands in
the Fox Island River is almost wholly made up of deciduous trees,
mainly poplar, canoe birch, ash, mountain ash (which grows to a very
large size), and alder, mixed with a few spruces. On the surrounding
hillsides the forest growth consists mainly of firs and spruces, with
plenty of canoe and yellow birches, poplars, larches, and mountain
ashes. The Sandy River runs through a fairly level and heavily timbered
region, with forests of large firs, red, white, and black spruces,
mixed with some birches and poplars. These two regions were the only
places where we found this and the downy woodpecker, nesting in the
deciduous trees. It has been observed by others in other places,
and doubtless it occurs wherever there is heavy timber, with a fair
sprinkling of deciduous trees, mainly along the streams and about the
shores of lakes.
I can find nothing noted on its habits that is in any way different
from those of the other eastern races. So far as I know, its eggs have
never been taken.
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS ICASTUS Oberholser
CHIHUAHUA WOODPECKER
PLATE 6
HABITS
The hairy woodpeckers of the Canadian and Transition Zones in the
mountains of northwestern Mexico, southern Arizona, and southern New
Mexico are referable to this race. In describing and naming it, Dr.
H. C. Oberholser (1911a) characterized it as “similar to _Dryobates
villosus hyloscopus_, but bill much smaller, and wing slightly
longer. * * * This bird is decidedly smaller than _Dryobates villosus
leucothorectis_, as well as noticeably smoky-tinged on the under
surface, instead of pure white; and it is in size so very much inferior
to _Dryobates villosus orius_, that it is readily distinguishable.”
Harry S. Swarth (1904) says of the haunts of this woodpecker in the
Huachuca Mountains, Arizona: “Fairly abundant in the higher parts of
the mountains, from 7,000 feet upward. They may be seen almost anywhere
in that region, but for breeding purposes, seem to particularly favor
the dense thickets of quaking asp.” In 1922, Frank C. Willard and I
found them breeding mainly among the tall pines near the summit of
these mountains, above 7,500 feet. From here to the summit, about 9,000
feet, the land is rolling, mostly in gentle slopes, and covered with
a fine, open, parklike forest of tall pines of two or three species,
many of them from 80 to 100 feet high. The many dead, standing trees
and stumps offered suitable nesting sites for pygmy nuthatches, Mexican
creepers, and Chihuahua woodpeckers. We did not see any of these
woodpeckers in the spruce and fir belt, below 7,000 feet.
_Nesting._--On May 7, 1922, in the pine region near the summit of the
Huachuca Mountains, described above, we located two pairs of Chihuahua
woodpeckers and saw some new excavations in the dead pine stubs, in
which they seemed to be preparing to nest, but they evidently had not
yet laid their eggs. On May 15 we returned and found two of the nests
occupied (pl. 6). The first nest was about 40 feet from the ground in
a dead pine stub at an elevation of about 7,900 feet; the cavity was
about 15 inches deep and contained four fresh eggs. Farther up, near
the summit, at about 8,500 feet, we found the second nest; this was
only about 15 feet up in a large dead pine, in a hole we had previously
passed by as an old one; but we saw the female enter the hole and stay
there, so we chopped it out and found three heavily incubated eggs in
a cavity about 12 inches deep. Frank C. Willard (1918) tells of a
pair of these woodpeckers that “had nested for several seasons in the
dead top of a tall pine. One winter, this broke off and lodged in the
top of an adjoining pine. Even with their nest site in this apparently
insecure position the woodpeckers were unwilling to leave it, and
their new nest was found dug in the same old tree top in its inverted
position.”
_Eggs._--The eggs of the Chihuahua woodpecker do not differ materially
from those of other hairy woodpeckers of similar size. The measurements
of three eggs in the author’s collection are =24.6= by 17.2, =24.5= by
17.7, and 24.6 by =18.0= millimeters.
_Winter._--Mr. Swarth (1904) says: “They do not seem to remain through
the winter months; at any rate I saw none during February, 1903 nor did
any appear until March 17, when I secured two and saw one other. Ten
days later they were quite abundant. The winter of 1902-1903 was quite
cold, with a great deal of snow on the ground, and it is possible that
with a milder winter they might remain the year through. There does not
seem to be any vertical migration on the part of this woodpecker, for
I saw none below 7,000 feet, and but very few as low as that.” Bendire
(1895), however, writes: “In southern Arizona it does not appear to
breed in the lower valleys, but I have shot several near Tucson in
winter.”
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS SITKENSIS Swarth
SITKA HAIRY WOODPECKER
HABITS
In the coast region of southeastern Alaska and northern British
Columbia we find a race that Harry S. Swarth (1911b) says, in
describing and naming it, “differs from _D. v. harrisi_ mainly in the
very much paler, less smoky hue of the lower parts, and the more buffy
coloration of the nasal tufts. Somewhat like _D. v. picoideus_, but
paler colored below, and lacking the barred rectrices of that race.” He
says elsewhere (1922):
_Sitkensis_, in its relatively light ventral coloration,
is intermediate between the extremely dark _harrisi_ and
the white-breasted _monticola_. The dark-breasted type of
coloration reaches its extreme development in _picoideus_
of the Queen Charlotte Islands, interposed between the
ranges of _harrisi_ and _sitkensis_. Thus, while specimens
of _sitkensis_ as laid out in trays may be arranged to
illustrate a step between _harrisi_ and _monticola_, the
geographical distribution of the several forms is not in
accordance with this idea. The geographical chains appear
to lie as follows: Starting with the white-breasted races
of the interior of the northwest, _septentrionalis_ and
_monticola_, there is an extension westward on the coast
of a slightly darker breasted race, _sitkensis_. Starting
again with the dark breasted type, _harrisi_, of the Puget
Sound region, and going northward, we reach the extremely
dark colored _picoideus_. Thus, sitkensis and _harrisi_
are really far apart genetically, and the appearance of
_sitkensis_ as a seeming intergrade between _monticola_
and _harrisi_ must be explained on grounds other than those
of such actual intermediate relationship. _Sitkensis_, as
an offshoot of the white-breasted type of the interior,
may have arrived at the humid coast at too recent date to
be yet affected by its surroundings to the extent that
_harrisi_ and _picoideus_ have been; or it may be more
resistant to such an environment. In either case the slight
modification of the clear white breast of _monticola_
produced by the humid surroundings would result in an
apparent intergrade toward _harrisi_.
On the habits of this subspecies, which probably do not differ
materially from those of other hairy woodpeckers, I can find only the
following brief comment by Joseph Dixon, quoted by Dr. Joseph Grinnell
(1909): “At the three lakes back of Mole Harbor I saw more of these
birds than at all other places put together. Their slow drumming
sounded so similar to the clicking of a telegraph instrument that
we dubbed them ‘telegraph woodpeckers’ to distinguish them from the
sapsuckers.” So far as I know, the nest of this woodpecker has never
been reported. It is probably resident throughout its breeding range.
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS ORIUS Oberholser
MODOC WOODPECKER
HABITS
This race of the hairy woodpecker occupies a rather extensive range
in the interior of California, Oregon, and Washington, west of the
range of _monticola_ in the Rocky Mountains, north of the range
of _hyloscopus_ in southern California, and east of the range of
_harrisi_ in the above States. As might be expected, it is more or less
intermediate in size or coloration between the surrounding races. Dr.
H. C. Oberholser (1911a), who described and named it, characterized it
as “resembling _Dryobates villosus leucothorectis_, but larger; lower
parts usually brownish white, instead of pure white.”
Grinnell and Storer (1924) say of its haunts in the Yosemite region:
“As with most of the allied forms, the present race ranges through
several life zones, from the scattered digger pines at Pleasant Valley
eastward through the main forest belt to the sparse tracts of Jeffrey
pines in the vicinity of Mono Lake. It is nowhere really common, even
for a woodpecker; it reaches its greatest numbers in the upper part of
the Transition Zone and in the Canadian Zone.”
In the Lassen Peak region, according to Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale
(1930), “this woodpecker foraged over the trunks and larger limbs of
many kinds of trees both in the forests proper and where there were a
few trees or restricted tracts of trees in the mainly unforested parts
of the section. Much of each bird’s time was spent on coniferous
trees, either living or dead ones, but nesting excavations were many of
them in trunks of deciduous trees.”
Bendire (1895) says that, at Fort Klamath, Oreg., “it appears to be
especially abundant in tracts in which the timber has been killed
by fire, and where many of the slowly rotting trunks still remain
standing. Such burnings are frequently met with in the mountains, and
seem to attract several species of Woodpeckers, presumably on account
of the abundance of suitable food to be found.”
_Courtship._--Grinnell and Storer (1924) say: “At Chinquapin, on May
19, 1919, a pair of these woodpeckers was seen going through their
courting antics. A male was in a large yellow pine at the edge of a
logged-over area, calling almost incessantly. His usual _speenk_ had
become _spenk-ter-ter-ter_, a staccato run repeated every few seconds.
The female answered in like voice but uttered the trill less often. The
male changed his location many times, and after protracted calling on
his part, the female flew to the same tree.”
_Nesting._--Bendire (1895) writes:
I took my first nest near Camp Harney, Oregon, on May
29, 1875, in a canyon on the southern slopes of the Blue
Mountains, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. The cavity
was excavated in the main trunk of a nearly dead aspen,
about 12 feet from the ground. The entrance hole was about
1¾ inches in diameter, and the cavity about 9 inches deep.
It contained four much incubated eggs. The female was in
the hole, and stayed there looking out until I had struck
the tree several times with a hatchet, when she flew off
and alighted on one of the limbs of the tree, uttering
cries of distress, which brought the male, who was still
more demonstrative, hopping from limb to limb, squealing
and scolding at me and pecking at the limbs on which he
perched. At Fort Klamath, Oregon, it was somewhat more
common, and here I took several of its nests. * * * Dead or
badly decayed trees are preferred to live ones for nesting
purposes, and deciduous trees to conifers; it also nests
occasionally in firs and madrone trees.
Milton P. Skinner says, in his notes, that “in the Yosemite National
Park, one nested in a living willow trunk about ten feet above the
ground.” Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) say that, in the Lassen
Peak region, “aspens and cottonwoods, dead at core, seemed to be
preferred nesting trees, although other kinds were also used. Nest
holes, when in conifers, were made in dead and decaying trunks or
stubs.”
_Eggs._--Three or four eggs make up the usual set for this woodpecker.
They are indistinguishable from the eggs of other hairy woodpeckers,
though Bendire (1895) says that “those of an elliptical ovate shape are
more common than the oval and elliptical ovals.” The measurements of
15 eggs average 24.70 by 18.80 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure =26.4= by =20.6= and =21.5= by =16.2= millimeters.
_Young._--Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) write: “Near Eagle
Lake Resort on June 12, 1929, an adult was feeding a nestful of young
woodpeckers in a cavity three meters up in a yellow-pine stub close to
the lake. The nest hole had been freshly cut. Only the female was seen
to carry food. The young were large enough to be fed without the parent
entirely entering the cavity. When the observer walked near the nest
stub the parent became much excited and flew about calling loudly for
several minutes. The young birds called when the parent came with food.”
_Food._--Grinnell and Storer (1924) say:
The Modoc Woodpecker forages on both evergreen and
deciduous trees, favoring the latter, perhaps, during
the winter months. In summer it is usually rather quiet,
particularly so as compared with the noisy California
Woodpecker. It gains much of its food in the outer portions
of the bark, where a few strokes of moderate intensity
enable it to secure any insect or grub living near the
surface of the tree.
At the margin of the forest above Coulterville, May 31,
1915, a Modoc Woodpecker was seen foraging in a yellow
pine. The tree in question had recently been killed by the
boring beetles which were common in the western forests
that year. The woodpecker was going over the tree in
systematic manner, working out and in along one branch,
then ascending the trunk to the next branch where it would
repeat the performance. The bird was flaking off the outer
layers of the bark without much evident expenditure of
effort, for little noise of tapping was heard; it was
feeding presumably on the boring beetles or their larvae.
Bendire (1895) writes: “It is one of our most active Woodpeckers,
always busy searching for food, which consists principally of injurious
larvæ and eggs of insects, varied occasionally with a diet of small
berries and seeds, and in winter sometimes of piñon nuts, pine seeds,
and acorns. At this season I have often seen this species around
slaughter houses, picking up stray bits of meat or fat, and have also
seen it pecking at haunches of venison hung up in the open air.”
_Behavior._--Mr. Skinner says, in his notes, that “the Modoc hairy
seems very unsociable. One that was feeding on a cottonwood chased a
visiting red-breasted sapsucker away from that tree to another, and
then from tree to tree. But, when a California woodpecker came to its
tree, the Modoc hairy promptly flew away.”
_Voice._--Major Bendire (1895) says that this woodpecker “is very
noisy, especially in the early spring. It likewise is a great drummer,
and utters a variety of notes, some of which sound like ‘kick-kick,
whitoo, whitoo, whit-whit, wi-wi-wi-wi,’ and a hoarse guttural one,
somewhat like ‘kheak-kheak’ or ‘khack-khack’.”
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS SCRIPPSAE Huey
LOWER CALIFORNIA HAIRY WOODPECKER
HABITS
Laurence M. Huey (1927) who described and named this woodpecker,
characterized it as “similar to _Dryobates villosus hyloscopus_ Cabanis
and Heine, but decidedly smaller. In fully adult birds, the dusky white
of the breast extends farther down on the breast than does that on
examples from the northern mountains.” He gives, as its range, “the
pine clad slopes of the Sierra Juarez and Sierra San Pedro Martir,
Lower California, Mexico. * * * The range of this southern race does
not extend north of the International Boundary, as specimens examined
from the mountains of San Diego County, California, are in no way
inclined toward the race _D. v. scrippsae_, but are counterparts of
typical _D. v. hyloscopus_ from the northern localities. In fact, the
only variation that could point toward a ‘blending’ is found in the
Sierra Juarez birds, but their average falls so near that of the birds
from the Sierra San Pedro Martir that the name proposed herewith should
apply.”
This southern race probably does not differ materially in its habits
from other hairy woodpeckers, except in so far as it is affected by its
environment.
DRYOBATES VILLOSUS LEUCOTHORECTIS Oberholser
WHITE-BREASTED WOODPECKER
HABITS
Northward and eastward from the range of the Chihuahua woodpecker
(_icastus_) and southward from the range of the Rocky Mountain hairy
woodpecker (_monticola_) lies the range of this white-breasted race
of the hairy woodpecker, extending from southern Utah, through
Arizona and New Mexico, into central western Texas. It is evidently
a smaller edition of monticola, for Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1911a),
in describing and naming it, says that it is “much like _Dryobates
villosus monticola_, but decidedly smaller; wing coverts practically
always without white spots.”
Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890b) says of its haunts in the mountains of
northern Arizona:
Breeds commonly throughout the pine belt, often ascending
higher in summer, then preferring aspens to the fir and
spruce woods of higher altitudes. It very rarely descends
to the cottonwoods of the Verde Valley to fraternize with
its smaller relative, Baird’s woodpecker, and only when the
mountain timber is icy or the weather uncommonly fierce;
then it is usually accompanied by flocks of Cassin’s Purple
Finches, Red-backed Juncos, and its boon companions, the
Slender-billed Nuthatches. About the middle of June the
young leave their nests, and soon after make a partial
migration downward towards the lower border of the pine
belt, in common with many other birds that breed at high
levels.
_Nesting._--I can find no references to the nesting habits or eggs of
this subspecies, which probably do not differ materially from those of
the Chihuahua woodpecker, except that J. S. Ligon told Mrs. Florence M.
Bailey (1928) that it nests “generally in small trees in canyon beds.”
_Eggs._--The eggs of this subspecies are apparently similar to those of
other hairy woodpeckers. They seem to be scarce in collections; I have
been able to locate only two sets of eggs, one set of four and one set
of three. These seven eggs show average measurements of 24.66 by 17.91
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =25.3= by 18.2,
24.6 by =18.6=, =24.2= by 18.2, and 24.6 by =17.2= millimeters.
_Food._--Mrs. Bailey (1928) quotes Maj. E. A. Goldman as follows:
One afternoon I found one pecking at a hole near the ground
in the trunk of an oak. It worked for a second or two and
then paused long enough to look in my direction, beginning
work again immediately. This was repeated several times and
it seemed disinclined to leave the spot, allowing me to
approach to within ten feet, when, instead of flying off,
it slid around to the opposite side of the trunk while I
examined the place and found the hole inhabited by numerous
small black beetles which were running excitedly about.
I moved off a short distance and watched the Woodpecker
return to the hole which seemed to be a rich find.
She goes on to say:
On Chloride Creek in May, 1916, when Mr. Ligon was standing
by a half dead box elder containing a woodpecker nest, the
mother came with her bill for half its length jammed full
of wood ants for the squawking young inside the hole. One
that Mr. Kellogg took at Silver City had recently eaten two
woodboring larvae, six caterpillars, and at least ten moth
pupae, besides other insects and mast.
DRYOBATES PUBESCENS PUBESCENS (Linnaeus)
SOUTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER
HABITS
Because the Linnaean name _Picus pubescens_ was based on Catesby’s
smallest spotted woodpecker, of South Carolina, the southern bird
becomes the type race of the species, and the above scientific name,
which for many years was used for the more northern bird, is now
restricted to the downy woodpeckers of the Lower Austral Zone of the
South Atlantic and Gulf States, from North Carolina to eastern Texas.
William Brewster (1897) has given us a full review of the changes
that have taken place in the nomenclature of the downy woodpeckers of
eastern North America, to which the reader is referred.
The southern downy woodpecker, _D. p. pubescens_, is smaller, from
the more southern parts of its range decidedly smaller, than the more
northern bird, _D. p. medianus_, intergrading with it where the two
ranges meet; the under parts are more brownish, and the white markings
of the wings and tail will average of less extent.
The haunts of this woodpecker are similar to those of its northern
relative, due allowance being made for the difference in environment.
It is a more sociable species than the hairy woodpecker and less of a
woodland bird.
In Florida, according to Arthur H. Howell (1932), “it occurs alike in
pine woods, hammocks, orchards, roadside hedges, and dooryards.”
_Nesting._--Mr. Howell (1932) says that, in Florida, “the nest of the
downy is usually dug in a decaying limb of a tree or occasionally in a
fence post, and may be anywhere from 5 to 50 feet above the ground.”
Harold H. Bailey (1925) says that “for the nesting site, they usually
select a dead stub of some live tree, preferring a hard one to a soft
or decayed wood. The cavity is drilled each year anew by the birds,
the hole being about one and a quarter inches in diameter and eight to
twelve inches deep, varying in height from twenty to sixty feet above
ground.” John Helton, Jr., tells me of a nest he found on April 20,
near Troy, Ala., that “was drilled in a rotten oak limb, which had
fallen, been caught, and was suspended among the branches of a pine. It
contained three small young and one infertile egg. The mother bird fed
the young with great regularity every three minutes.” M. G. Vaiden, of
Rosedale, Miss., writes to me of a nest 35 feet up in a dead snag of a
pecan tree; the limb was four inches in diameter and the cavity only
five inches deep. George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that, in Texas, it
nests “10 to 20 feet from ground in small dead deciduous trees, or in
old stumps or telegraph poles.”
_Eggs._--The eggs are like those of the northern downy but slightly
smaller. The measurements of 25 eggs average 19.43 by 15.24
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =20.8= by 14.9,
20.6 by =16.7=, and =17.78= by =13.46= millimeters.
_Behavior._--Writing of the habits of these woodpeckers in the
sandhills of North Carolina, Milton P. Skinner (1928) says: