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.

_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.

[Illustration: _Hylotomus pileatus._]

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).

[Illustration: PLATE LII.

1. Centurus carolinus. ♂ Pa., 868.

2. ” uropygialis. ♂ Ariz., 6128.

3. ” aurifrons. ♂ Texas, 6121.

4. ” carolinus. ♀ 6118.

5. ” uropygialis. ♀ Ariz.

6. ” aurifrons. ♀ Texas.]

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.

[Illustration: _Centurus carolinus._]

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.

Mr. Lord thinks that this Woodpecker is not to be met with west of the

Cascade Mountains, but says it is very often found between the

Cascades and the Rocky Mountains, where it frequents the open timber.

The habits and modes of flight of this bird, he states, are not the

least like a Woodpecker’s. It flies with a heavy flapping motion, much

like a Jay, feeds a good deal on the ground, and chases insects on the

wing like a Shrike or a Kingbird. Whilst mating they assemble in large

numbers, and keep up a continual, loud, chattering noise. They arrive

at Colville in April, begin nesting in May, and leave again in

October. The nest is in a hole in a dead pine-tree, usually at a

considerable height from the ground.

Dr. Coues says this bird is very common at Fort Whipple, in Arizona,

where it remained in moult until November.

Mr. J. A. Allen found this the most numerous of the _Picidæ_ in

Colorado Territory. He also states that it differs considerably in its

habits from all the other Woodpeckers. He frequently noticed it rising

high into the air almost vertically, and to a great height, apparently

in pursuit of insects, and descending again as abruptly, to repeat the

same manœuvre. It was met with by Mr. Ridgway in the Sacramento

Valley, along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, and in the East

Humboldt Mountains. In the first-mentioned locality it was the most

abundant Woodpecker, and inhabited the scattered oaks of the plains.

In the second region it was very abundant—perhaps more so than any

other species—among the scattered pines along the very base of the

eastern slope; and in the last-mentioned place was observed on a few

occasions among the tall aspens bordering the streams in the lower

portions of the cañons. In its habits it is described as approaching

most closely to our common Red-headed Woodpecker (_M. erythrocephalus_),

but possessing many very distinctive peculiarities. In the character

of its notes it quite closely approximates to our common Redhead, but

they are weaker and of a more twittering character; and in its lively

playful disposition it even exceeds it. It has a very peculiar and

characteristic habit of ascending high into the air, and taking a

strange, floating flight, seemingly laborious, as if struggling

against the wind, and then descending in broad circles to the trees.

The eggs are more spherical than are usually those of the _Colaptes

auratus_, are of a beautiful crystalline whiteness, and measure 1.10

inches in length and .92 of an inch in breadth.

Melanerpes erythrocephalus, SWAINSON.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.

_Picus erythrocephalus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 174.—VIEILLOT,

Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 60, pl. cxii, cxiii.—WILSON, Am. Orn.

I, 1810, 142, pl. ix, fig. 1.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No.

14.—IB. Isis, 1829, 518 (young).—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832,

141; V, 536, pl. xxvii.—IB. Birds America, IV, 1842, 274, pl.

cclxxi.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 419. _Melanerpes

erythrocephalus_, SW. F. B. A. II, 1831, 316.—BON. List,

1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 115.—GAMBEL, J. Ac. Nat. Sc. Ph.

2d ser. I, 1847, 55.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 113.—SCL. Cat.

1862, 340.—SAMUELS, 102.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870,

402.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 307. _Picus obscurus_, GM. I, 1788, 429

(young).—_Red-headed Woodpecker_, PENNANT, KALM, LATHAM.

_White-rumped Woodpecker_, LATHAM.

SP. CHAR. Head and neck all round crimson-red, margined by a narrow

crescent of black on the upper part of the breast. Back, primary

quills, and tail bluish-black. Under parts generally, a broad band

across the middle of the wing, and the rump, white. The female is not

different. Length, about 9.75; wing, 5.50. Bill bluish-white, darker

terminally; iris chestnut; feet olive-gray. Young without any red, the

head and neck being grayish streaked with dusky; breast with an ashy

tinge, and streaked sparsely with dusky; secondaries with two or three

bands of black; dorsal region clouded with grayish.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States to base of Rocky Mountains,

sometimes straggling westward to coast of California (GAMBEL). Salt

Lake City, Utah (RIDGWAY). Other localities: Nueces to Brazos, Texas

(DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 469, breeds).

Western specimens frequently have the abdomen strongly tinged with

salmon-red, or orange-red, and are generally more deeply colored than

eastern.

HABITS. The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of the most familiar birds of

this family, and ranges over a wide extent of territory. Excepting

where it has been exterminated by the persecutions of indiscriminate

destroyers, it is everywhere a very abundant species. Once common, it

is now rarely met with in the neighborhood of Boston, though in the

western part of Massachusetts it is still to be found. In the

collections of the Smithsonian Institution are specimens from

Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, the

Indian Territory, etc. Sir John Richardson speaks of it as ranging in

summer as far north as the northern shores of Lake Huron. He also

remarks that in the Hudson Bay Museum there is a specimen from the

banks of the Columbia River. Dr. Gambel, in his paper on the birds of

California, states that he saw many of them in a belt of oak timber

near the Mission of St. Gabriel. As, however, Dr. Heermann did not

meet with it in California, and as no other collector has obtained

specimens in that State, this is probably a mistake. With the

exception of Dr. Woodhouse, who speaks of having found this species in

the Indian Territory and in Texas, it is not mentioned by any of the

government exploring parties. It may therefore be assigned a range

extending, in summer, as far north as Labrador, and westward to the

eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Throughout the year it is a

permanent resident only of the more southern States, where it is,

however, much less abundant in summer than it is in Pennsylvania.

Wilson, at the time of his writing (1808), speaks of finding several

of the nests of this Woodpecker within the boundaries of the then city

of Philadelphia, two of them being in buttonwood-trees and one in the

decayed limb of an elm. The parent birds made regular excursions to

the woods beyond the Schuylkill, and preserved a silence and

circumspection in visiting their nest entirely unlike their habits in

their wilder places of residence. The species is altogether migratory,

visiting the Middle and Northern States early in May and leaving in

October. It begins the construction of its nest almost immediately

after its first appearance, as with other members of its family, by

excavations made in the trunk or larger limbs of trees, depositing six

white eggs on the bare wood. The cavities for their nests are made

almost exclusively in dead wood, rarely, if ever, in the living

portion of the tree. In Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, and the Carolinas,

they have two broods in a season, but farther north than this they

rarely raise more than one. Their eggs are usually six in number, and,

like all the eggs of this family, are pure white and translucent when

fresh. They vary a little in their shape, but are usually slightly

more oval and less spherical than those of several other species. Mr.

Nuttall speaks of the eggs of this bird as being said to be marked at

the larger end with reddish spots. I have never met with any thus

marked, and as Mr. Nuttall does not give it as from his own

observations I have no doubt that it is a mistake. Mr. Paine, of

Randolph, Vt., writes that he has only seen a single specimen of this

Woodpecker in that part of Vermont, while on the western side of the

Green Mountains they are said to be very common. He adds that it is a

tradition among his older neighbors that these Woodpeckers were

formerly everywhere known throughout all portions of the State.

Mr. Ridgway saw a single individual of this species in the outskirts

of Salt Lake City, in July, 1869.

Their eggs vary both in size and in shape, from a spherical to an

oblong-oval, the latter being the more usual. Their length varies from

1.10 to 1.15 inches, and their breadth from .80 to .90 of an inch.

Melanerpes formicivorus, var. formicivorus, BONAP.

CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER.

_Picus formicivorus_, SWAINSON, Birds Mex. in Philos. Mag. I, 1827,

439 (Mexico).—VIGORS, Zoöl. Blossom, 1839, 23

(Monterey).—NUTTALL, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840. _Melanerpes

formicivorus_, BP. Conspectus, 1850, 115.—HEERMANN, J. A. N.

Sc. Phil. 2d series, II, 1853, 270.—CASSIN, Illust. II, 1853,

11, pl. ii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Oregon Route, 90, P. R. R.

Surv. VI, 1857.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1868, 114.—SUMICHRAST,

Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 1865, 562 (correcting an error of

Saussure).—CASSIN, Pr. A. N. S. 63, 328.—HEERMANN, P. R. R.

X, 58 (nesting).—BAIRD, Rep. M. Bound. II, Birds, 6.—SCLATER,

Pr. Z. S. 1858, 305 (Oaxaca).—IB. Ibis, 137 (Honduras).—CAB.

Jour. 1862, 322 (Costa Rica).—COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866,

55.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 403. _Picus melanopogon_,

TEMMINCK, Pl. Color. IV, (1829?) pl. ccccli.—WAGLER, Isis,

1829, v, 515.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 51.

[Illustration: _Melanerpes formicivorus._]

SP. CHAR. Fourth quill longest, third a little shorter. Above and on

the anterior half of the body, glossy bluish or greenish black; the

top of the head and a short occipital crest red. A white patch on the

forehead, connecting with a broad crescentic collar on the upper part

of the neck by a narrow isthmus, white tinged with sulphur-yellow.

Belly, rump, bases of primaries, and inner edges of the outer quills,

white. Tail-feathers uniform black. Female with the red confined to

the occipital crest, the rest replaced by greenish-black; the three

patches white, black, and red, very sharply defined, and about equal.

Length about 9.50; wing, 6.00; tail, 3.75.

HAB. Pacific Coast region of the United States and south; in Northern

Mexico, eastward almost to the Gulf of Mexico; also on the Upper Rio

Grande; south to Costa Rica. Localities: Oaxaca (SCL. P. Z. S. 1858,

305); Cordova (SCL. 1856, 307); Guatemala (SCL. Ibis, I, 137);

Honduras (SCL. Cat. 341); Costa Rica (CAB. J. 1862, 322); W. Arizona

(COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 55).

In most specimens one or two red feathers may be detected in the black

of the breast just behind the sulphur-yellow crescent. The white of

the breast is streaked with black; the posterior portion of the black

of the breast and anterior belly streaked with white. The white of the

wing only shows externally as a patch at the base of the primaries.

[Illustration: PLATE LIII.

1. Melanerpes formicivorus. ♂ Cal., 5495.

2. ” ” ♀ Cal., 25035.

3. ” angustifrons. ♂ Cape St. Lucas, 25947.

4. ” ” ♀ ” ” 25949.]

Dr. Coues calls attention to extraordinary differences in the color of

the iris, which varies from white to red, blue, yellow, ochraceous, or

brown. A mixture of blue, he thinks, indicates immaturity, and a

reddish tinge the full spring coloration.

The male of this species has a white forehead extending a little

backwards of the anterior edge of the eye, the rest of the top of head

to the nape being red. The female has the white forehead, and a

quadrate occipito-nuchal red patch, a black band about as broad as the

white one separating the latter from the occipital red. The length of

the two anterior bands together is decidedly greater than that of the

posterior red. In both sexes the jugulum is entirely and continuously

black. Anteriorly (generally with a red spot in its anterior edge) and

on the feathers of its posterior border only are these elongated white

spots, on each side the shaft, the feathers of the breast being

streaked centrally with black. The inner webs of the secondaries have

an elongated continuous patch of white along their internal edge, with

a very slight, almost inappreciable, border of black; this white only

very rarely converted partly or entirely into quadrate spots, and that

never on the innermost quills marked with white. Specimens from

California are very similar to those from the Rocky Mountains and the

Rio Grande Valley, except, perhaps, in being larger, with longer and

straighter bill.

In _M. flavigula_ from Bogota, the male has the head marked with the

red, black, and white (the red much less in extent, however) of the

female _M. formicivorus_, while the female has no red whatever. All,

or nearly all, the feathers of the jugulum have the two white spots,

and (as pointed out by Reichenbach) the white of the inner webs of the

inner quills is entirely converted into a series of non-confluent

quadrate spots. The black streaks on the sides and behind appear to be

of greater magnitude, and more uniformly distributed. In both species

all the tail-feathers are perfectly black.

A Guatemalan bird, received from Mr. Salvin as _M. formicivorus_,—and

indeed all specimens from Orizaba and Mirador to Costa Rica,—agrees

in the main with the northern bird, except that all the black feathers

of the jugulum have white spots, as in _M. flavigula_. The outermost

tail-feather of Mr. Salvin’s specimen has two narrow transverse

whitish bands, and a spot indicating a third, as well as a light tip.

The white markings on the inner quills are more like the northern

bird, though on the outermost ones there is the same tendency to form

spots as in a few northern specimens (as 6,149 from Los Nogales, &c.).

The bill is very different from either in being shorter, broader, much

stouter, and the culmen more decurved.

These peculiarities, which are constant, appear to indicate a decided

or strongly marked variety, as a series of almost a hundred specimens

of the northern bird from many localities exhibit none of the

characters mentioned, while all of an equally large series from

Central America agree in possessing them.

A series of Jalapan specimens from the cabinet of Mr. Lawrence show a

close relationship to skins from the Rio Grande, and do not approach

the Guatemalan bird in the peculiar characters just referred to,

except in the shortness and curvature of the bill. In one specimen

there is an approach to the Bogotan in a moderate degree of barring on

the white inner edgings of the tertials; in the rest, however, they

are continuously white.

HABITS. This handsome Woodpecker, distinguished both by the remarkable

beauty of its plumage and the peculiarity of its provident habits, has

a widely extended area of distribution, covering the Pacific Coast,

from Oregon throughout Mexico. In Central America it is replaced by

the variety _striatipectus_, and in New Grenada by the var.

_flavigula_, while at Cape St. Lucas we find another local form, _M.

angustifrons_. So far as we have the means of ascertaining their

habits, we find no mention of any essential differences in this

respect among these races.

Suckley and Cooper did not meet with this bird in Washington

Territory, and Mr. Lord met with it in abundance on his journey from

Yreka to the boundary line of British Columbia. Mr. Dresser did not

observe it at San Antonio. Mr. Clark met with it at the Coppermines,

in New Mexico, in great numbers, and feeding principally among the

oaks. Lieutenant Couch found it in the recesses of the Sierra Madre

quite common and very tame, resorting to high trees in search of its

food. He did not meet with it east of the Sierra Madre. Dr. Kennerly

first observed it in the vicinity of Santa Cruz, where it was very

frequent on the mountain-slopes, always preferring the tallest trees,

but very shy, and it was with difficulty that a specimen could be

procured. Mr. Nuttall, who first added this bird to our fauna, speaks

of it as very plentiful in the forests around Santa Barbara. Between

that region and the Pueblo de los Angeles, Dr. Gambel met with it in

great abundance, although neither writer makes mention of any

peculiarities of habit. Mr. Emanuel Samuels met with it in and around

Petaluma, where he obtained the eggs.

Dr. Newberry, in his Report on the zoölogy of Lieutenant Williamson’s

route (P. R. R. Reports, VI), states that the range of this species

extends to the Columbia, and perhaps above, to the westward of the

Cascade Range, though more common in California than in Oregon. It was

not found in the Des Chutes Basin, nor in the Cascade Mountains.

In the list of the birds of Guatemala given by Mr. Salvin in the Ibis,

this Woodpecker is mentioned (I, p. 137) as being found in the Central

Region, at Calderas, on the Volcan de Fuego, in forests of evergreen

oaks, where it feeds on acorns.

Dr. Heermann describes it as among the noisiest as well as the most

abundant of the Woodpeckers of California. He speaks of it as catching

insects on the wing, after the manner of a Flycatcher, and mentions

its very extraordinary habit of digging small holes in the bark of the

pine and the oak, in which it stores acorns for its food in winter. He

adds that one of these acorns is placed in each hole, and is so

tightly fitted or driven in that it is with difficulty extracted.

Thus, the bark of a large pine forty or fifty feet high will present

the appearance of being closely studded with brass nails, the heads

only being visible. These acorns are thus stored in large quantities,

and serve not only the Woodpecker, but trespassers as well. Dr.

Heermann speaks of the nest as being excavated in the body of the tree

to a depth varying from six inches to two feet, the eggs being four or

five in number, and pure white.

These very remarkable and, for a Woodpecker, somewhat anomalous

habits, first mentioned among American writers by Dr. Heermann, have

given rise to various conflicting statements and theories in regard to

the design of these collections of acorns. Some have even ventured to

discredit the facts, but these are too well authenticated to be

questioned. Too many naturalists whose accuracy cannot be doubted have

been eyewitnesses to these performances. Among these is Mr. J. K.

Lord, who, however, was constrained to confess his utter inability to

explain why the birds did so. He was never able to find an acorn that

seemed to have been eaten, nor a trace of vegetable matter in their

stomachs, and at the close of his investigations he frankly admitted

this storing of acorns to be a mystery for which he could offer no

satisfactory explanation.

M. H. de Saussure, the Swiss naturalist, in an interesting paper

published in 1858 in the _Bibliothèque Universelle_ of Geneva,

furnishes some very interesting observations on the habits of a

Woodpecker, which he supposed to be the _Colaptes mexicanoides_ of

Mexico, of storing collections of acorns in the hollow stems of the

maguay plants. Sumichrast, who accompanied Saussure in his excursion,

while recognizing the entire truth of the interesting facts he

narrates, is confident that the credit of all this instinctive

forethought belongs not to the _Colaptes_, but to the Mexican race of

this species. Saussure’s article being too long to quote in full, we

give an abstract.

The slopes of a volcanic mountain, Pizarro, near Perote, in Mexico,

are covered with immense beds of the maguay (_Agave americana_), with

larger growths of yuccas, but without any other large shrubs or trees.

Saussure was surprised to find this silent and dismal wilderness

swarming with Woodpeckers. A circumstance so unusual as this large

congregation of birds, by nature so solitary, in a spot so

unattractive, prompted him to investigate the mystery. The birds were

seen to fly first to the stalks of the maguay, to attack them with

their beaks, and then to pass to the yuccas, and there repeat their

labors. These stalks, upon examination, were all found to be riddled

with holes, placed irregularly one above another, and communicating

with the hollow cavity within. On cutting open one of these stalks, he

found it filled with acorns.

As is well known, this plant, after flowering, dies, its stalk

remains, its outer covering hardens into a flinty texture, and its

centre becomes hollow. This convenient cavity is used by the

Woodpecker as a storehouse for provisions that are unusual food for

the tribe. The central cavity of the stalk is only large enough to

receive one acorn at a time. They are packed in, one above the other,

until the cavity is full. How did these Woodpeckers first learn to

thus use these storehouses, by nature closed against them? The

intelligent instinct that enabled this bird to solve this problem

Saussure regarded as not the least surprising feature. With its beak

it pierces a small round hole through the lower portion into the

central cavity, and thrusts in acorns until the hollow is filled to

the level of the hole. It then makes a second opening higher up, and

fills the space below in a like manner, and so proceeds until the

entire stalk is full. Sometimes the space is too small to receive the

acorns, and they have to be forced in by blows from its beak. In other

stalks there are no cavities, and then the Woodpecker creates one for

each acorn, forcing it into the centre of the pith.

The labor necessary to enable the bird to accomplish all this is very

considerable, and great industry is required to collect its stores;

but, once collected, the storehouse is a very safe and convenient one.

Mount Pizarro is in the midst of a barren desert of sand and volcanic

_débris_. There are no oak-trees nearer than the Cordilleras, thirty

miles distant, and therefore the collecting and storing of each acorn

required a flight of sixty miles.

This, reasons Saussure, is obviously an instinctive preparation, on

the part of these birds, to provide the means of supporting life

during the arid winter months, when no rain falls and everything is

parched. His observations were made in April, the last of the winter

months; and he found the Woodpeckers withdrawing food from their

depositories, and satisfied himself that the birds were eating the

acorn itself, and not the diminutive maggots a few of them contained.

The ingenuity with which the bird managed to get at the contents of

each acorn was also quite striking. Its feet being unfit for grasping

the acorn, it digs a hole into the dry bark of the yuccas, just large

enough to receive the small end of the acorn, which it inserts, making

use of its bill to split it open, as with a wedge. The trunks of the

yuccas were all found riddled with these holes.

There are several remarkable features to be noticed in the facts

observed by Saussure,—the provident instinct which prompts this bird

to lay by stores of provisions for the winter; the great distance

traversed to collect a kind of food so unusual for its race; and its

seeking, in a spot so remote from its natural abode, a storehouse so

remarkable. Can instinct alone teach, or have experience and reason

taught, these birds, that, better far than the bark of trees, or

cracks in rocks, or cavities dug in the earth, or any other known

hiding-place, are these hidden cavities within the hollow stems of

distant plants? What first taught them how to break through the flinty

coverings of these retreats? By what revelation could these birds have

been informed that within these dry and closed stalks they could, by

searching, find suitable places, protected from moisture, for

preserving their stores in a state most favorable for their long

preservation, safe from gnawing rats, and from those acorn-eating

birds whose bills are not strong or sharp enough to cut through their

tough enclosures?

M. Sumichrast, who afterwards enjoyed unusual opportunities for

observing the habits of these Woodpeckers in the State of Vera Cruz,

states that they dwell exclusively in oak woods, and that near

Potrero, as well as in the alpine regions, trunks of oak-trees are

found pierced with small holes in circular lines around their

circumference. Into each of these holes these birds drive the acorns

by repeated blows of their beaks, so as to fix them firmly. At other

times they make their collection of acorns in openings between the

raised bark of dry trees and the trunks. This writer states that he

has sought in vain to explain such performances satisfactorily. The

localities in which these birds reside, in Mexico, teem at all seasons

with insects; and it seems absurd, therefore, to suppose that they can

be in quest of the small, almost microscopic, larvæ contained in the

acorns.

Dr. C. T. Jackson sought to account for these interesting performances

on the ingenious hypothesis that the acorns thus stored are always

infested with larvæ, and never sound ones; that they are driven into

the tree cup-end foremost, so as to securely imprison the maggot and

prevent its escape, and thus enable the Woodpecker to devour it at its

leisure. This would argue a wonderful degree of intelligence and

forethought, on the part of the Woodpecker, and more than it is

entitled to; for the facts do not sustain this hypothesis. The acorns

are not put into the tree with the cup-end in, but invariably the

reverse, so far as we have noticed; and the acorns, so far from being

wormy, are, in nine cases out of ten, sound ones. Besides, this theory

affords no explanation of the large collections of loose acorns made

by these birds in hollow trees, or in the stalks of the maguay plants.

Nor can we understand why, if so intelligent, they make so little use

of these acorns, as seems to be the almost universal testimony of

California naturalists. And, as still further demonstrating the

incorrectness of this hypothesis, we have recently been informed by

Dr. Canfield of Monterey, Cal., that occasionally these Woodpeckers,

following an instinct so blind that they do not distinguish between an

acorn and a pebble, are known to fill up the holes they have drilled

with so much labor, not only with acorns, but occasionally with

stones. In time the bark and the wood grow over these, and after a few

years they are left a long way from the surface. These trees are

usually the sugar-pine of California, a wood much used for lumber.

Occasionally one of these trees is cut, the log taken to mill without

its being known that it is thus charged with rounded pieces of flint

or agate, and the saws that come in contact with them are broken.

Without venturing to present an explanation of facts that have

appeared so contradictory and unsatisfactory to other naturalists,

such as we can claim to be either comprehensive or entirely

satisfactory, we cannot discredit the positive averments of such

observers as Saussure and Salvin. We believe that these Woodpeckers do

eat the acorns, when they can do no better. And when we are confronted

with the fact, which we do not feel at liberty to altogether

disregard, that in very large regions this bird seems to labor in

vain, and makes no use of the treasures it has thus heaped together,

we can only attempt an explanation. This Woodpecker is found over an

immense area. It everywhere has the same instinctive promptings to

provide, not “for a rainy day,” but for the exact opposite,—for a

long interval during which no rain falls, for nearly two hundred days

at a time, in all the low and hot lands of Mexico and Central America.

There these accumulations become a necessity, there we are informed

they do eat the acorns, and, more than this, many other birds and

beasts derive the means of self-preservation in times of famine from

the provident labors of this bird. That in Oregon, in California, and

in the mountains of Mexico and elsewhere, where better and more

natural food offers throughout the year, it is rarely known to eat the

acorns it has thus labored to save, only seems to prove that it acts

under the influences of an undiscriminating instinct that prompts it

to gather in its stores whether it needs them or not.

It may be, too, that writers have too hastily inferred that these

birds never eat the acorns, because they have been unable to obtain

complete evidence of the fact. We have recently received from C. W.

Plass, Esq., some interesting facts, which, if they do not prove that

these birds in the winter visit their stores and eat their acorns,

render it highly probable. Mr. Plass resides near Napa City, Cal.,

near which city, and on the edge of the pine forests, he has recently

constructed a house. The gable-ends of this dwelling the California

Woodpeckers have found a very convenient storehouse for their acorns,

and Mr. Plass has very considerately permitted them to do so

unmolested. The window in the gable slides up upon pullies its whole

length, to admit of a passage to the upper verandah, and the open

space in the wall admits of the nuts falling down into the upper hall,

and this frequently happens when the birds attempt to extricate them

from the outside. Nearly all these nuts are found to be sound, and

contain no worm, while those that fall outside are empty shells. Empty

shells have also been noticed by Mr. Plass under the trees, indicating

that the acorns have been eaten.

The Smithsonian Institution has received specimens of the American

race of this Woodpecker, collected at Belize by Dr. Berendt, and

accompanied by illustrations of their work in the way of implantation

of acorns in the bark of trees.

The eggs of this Woodpecker, obtained by Mr. Emanuel Samuels near

Petaluma, Cal., and now in the collection of the Boston Society of

Natural History, are undistinguishable from the eggs of other

Woodpeckers in form or color, except that they are somewhat oblong,

and measure 1.12 inches in length by .90 of an inch in breadth.

Melanerpes formicivorus, var. angustifrons, BAIRD.

THE NARROW-FRONTED WOODPECKER.

_Melanerpes formicivorus_, var. _angustifrons_, BAIRD, COOPER, Orn.

Cal. I, 1870, 405.

SP. CHAR. Compared with _M. formicivorus_, the size is smaller. The

light frontal bar is much narrower; in the female scarcely more than

half the black one behind it, and not reaching anything like as far

back as the anterior border of the eye, instead of exceeding this

limit. The light frontal and the black bars together are only about

two thirds the length of the occipital red, instead of exceeding it in

length; the red patch reaches forward nearly or quite to the posterior

border of the eye, instead of falling a considerable distance behind

it, and being much broader posteriorly. The frontal band too is

gamboge-yellow, much like the throat, and not white; the connection

with the yellow throat-patch much broader. The white upper

tail-coverts show a tendency to a black edge. Length, 8.00; wing,

5.20; tail, 3.20.

HAB. Cape St. Lucas.

As the differences mentioned are constant, we consider the Cape St.

Lucas bird as forming at least a permanent variety, and indicate it as

above. A single specimen from the Sierra Madre, of Colima, is very

similar.

HABITS. We have no information as to the habits of this singular race

of the _M. formicivorus_, found at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. John Xantus.

It will be an interesting matter for investigation to ascertain to

what extent the totally different character of the region in which

this bird is met with from those in which the _M. formicivorus_ is

found, may have modified its habits and its manner of life.

SECTION COLAPTEÆ.

This section, formerly embracing but one genus additional to

_Colaptes_, has recently had three more added to it by Bonaparte. The

only United States representative, however, is _Colaptes_.

GENUS COLAPTES, SWAINSON.

_Colaptes_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, Dec. 1827, 353. (Type,

_Cuculus auratus_, LINN.)

_Geopicos_, MALHERBE, Mém. Acad. Metz, 1849, 358. (_G. campestris._)

GEN. CHAR. Bill slender, depressed at the base, then compressed.

Culmen much curved, gonys straight; both with acute ridges, and coming

to quite a sharp point with the commissure at the end; the bill,

consequently, not truncate at the end. No ridges on the bill. Nostrils

basal, median, oval, and exposed. Gonys very short; about half the

culmen. Feet large; the anterior outer toe considerably longer than

the posterior. Tail long, exceeding the secondaries; the feathers

suddenly acuminate, with elongated points.

[Line drawing: _Colaptes auratus._

1341 ♂]

There are four well-marked representatives of the typical genus

_Colaptes_ belonging to Middle and North America, three of them found

within the limits of the United States, in addition to what has been

called a hybrid between two of them. The common and distinctive

characters of these four are as follows:—

Species and Varieties.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Head and neck ashy or brown, unvaried

except by a black or red malar patch in the male. Back and

wings brown, banded transversely with black; rump and upper

tail-coverts white. Beneath whitish, with circular black

spots, and bands on crissum; a black pectoral crescent.

Shafts and under surfaces of quills and tail-feathers either

yellow or red.

A. Mustache red; throat ash; no red nuchal crescent.

_a._ Under surface and shafts of wings and tail red.

1. C. mexicanoides.[133] Hood bright cinnamon-rufous;

feathers of mustache black below surface. Upper parts

barred with black and whitish-brown, the two colors of

about equal width. Shafts, etc., dull brick-red. Rump

spotted with black; black terminal zone of under

surface of tail narrow, badly defined. Wing, 6.15;

tail, 4.90; bill, 1.77. _Hab._ Southern Mexico and

Guatemala.

2. C. mexicanus.[134] Hood ashy-olivaceous, more

rufescent anteriorly, light cinnamon on lores and

around eyes; feathers of mustache light ash below

surface. Upper parts umber-brown, barred with black,

the black only about one fourth as wide as the brown.

Shafts, etc., fine salmon-red, or pinkish orange-red.

Rump unspotted; black terminal zone of tail broad,

sharply defined. Wing, 6.70; tail, 5.00; bill, 1.60.

_Hab._ Middle and Western Province of United States,

south into Eastern Mexico to Mirador and Orizaba, and

Jalapa.

_b._ Under surface and shafts of wings and tail

gamboge-yellow.

3. C. chrysoides. Hood uniform light cinnamon; upper

parts raw umber with sparse, very narrow and distant,

bars of black. Rump immaculate; black terminal zone of

tail occupying nearly the terminal half, and very

sharply defined. Wing, 5.90; tail, 5.70; bill, 1.80.

_Hab._ Colorado and Cape St. Lucas region of Southern

Middle Province of United States.

B. Mustache black; a red nuchal crescent. Throat pinkish,

hood ashy.

4. C. auratus. Shafts, etc., gamboge-yellow; upper

parts olivaceous-brown, with narrow bars of black,

about half as wide as the brown.

Rump immaculate; black terminal zone of under

surface of tail broad, more than half an inch wide

on outer feather. Edges of tail-feathers narrowly

edged, but not indented, with whitish. Outer web of

lateral feathers without spots of dusky. Wing, 6.10;

tail, 4.80; bill, 1.58. _Hab._ Eastern Province of

North America var. _auratus_.

Rump spotted with black; black terminal zone of tail

narrow, consisting on outer feather of an irregular

spot less than a quarter of an inch wide. Edges of

all the tail-feathers indented with whitish bars;

outer web of lateral feathers with quadrate spots of

dusky along the edge. Wing, 5.75; tail, 4.75; bill,

1.60. _Hab._ Cuba var. _chrysocaulosus_.[135]

[Illustration: PLATE LIV.

1. Colaptes chrysoides. ♂ Arizona, 107.

2. ” ” ♀ Cape St. Lucas.

3. ” hybridus. ♂ Neb., 5214.

4. Melanerpes erythrocephalus. ♂ Neb., 38303.

5. ” torquatus. ♂ Cal., 6138.]

[133] _Colaptes mexicanoides_, LAFR. Rev. Zoöl. 1844,

42.—SCL. & SALV. Ibis, 1859, 137.—SCL. Catal. Am. B. 1862,

344. _Colaptes rubricatus_, GRAY, Gen. B. pl. cxi. _Geopicus

rub._ MALH. Monog. Pic. II, 265, pl. cx, figs. 1, 2. _Picus

submexicanus_, SUND. Consp. Pic. 1866, 72.

[134] A series of hybrids between _mexicanus_ and _auratus_

is in the Smithsonian collection, these specimens exhibiting

every possible combination of the characters of the two.

[135] _Colaptes auratus_, var. _chrysocaulosus_. _Colaptes

chrysocaulosus_, GUNDLACH, Boston Journal.—IB. Repert. I,

1866, 294.

Colaptes auratus, SWAINSON.

FLICKER; YELLOW-SHAFTED WOODPECKER; HIGH-HOLDER.

_Cuculus auratus_, LINN. Syst. Nat., I, (ed. 10,) 1758, 112. _Picus

auratus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 1, (ed. 12,) 1766, 174.—FORSTER,

Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 383.—VIEILLOT, Ois. Am. Sept. II,

1807, 66, pl. cxxiii.—WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1810, 45, pl. iii,

f. 1.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 84.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I,

1832, 191; V, 540, pl. xxxvii.—IB. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 282,

pl. cclxxiii.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 71. _Colaptes auratus_, SW.

Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 353.—IB. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831,

314.—BON. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 113.—BAIRD,

Birds N. Am. 1858, 118.—MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858, 420.—DRESSER,

Ibis, 1865, 470 (San Antonio, one specimen only seen).—SCL.

Cat. 1862, 344.—GRAY, Cat. 1868, 120.—FOWLER, Am. Nat. III,

1869, 422.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 275

(Alaska).—SAMUELS, 105.—ALLEN, B. E. Fla. 307.

SP. CHAR. Shafts and under surfaces of wing and tail feathers

gamboge-yellow. Male with a black patch on each side of the cheek. A

red crescent on the nape. Throat and stripe beneath the eye pale

lilac-brown. Back glossed with olivaceous-green. Female without the

black cheek-patch.

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS. A crescentic patch on the breast and rounded

spots on the belly black. Back and wing-coverts with interrupted

transverse bands of black. Neck above and on the sides ashy. Beneath

pale pinkish-brown, tinged with yellow on the abdomen, each feather

with a heart-shaped spot of black near the end. Rump white. Length,

12.50; wing, 6.00.

HAB. All of eastern North America to the eastern slopes of Rocky

Mountains; farther north, extending across along the Yukon as far at

least as Nulato, perhaps to the Pacific. Greenland (REINHARDT).

Localities: San Antonio, Texas, only one specimen (DRESSER, Ibis,

1865, 470).

Specimens vary considerably in size and proportions; the more northern

ones are much the larger. The spots vary in number and in size; they

may be circular, or transversely or longitudinally oval. Western

specimens appear paler. In a Selkirk Settlement specimen the belly is

tinged with pale sulphur-yellow, the back with olivaceous-green.

This species, in general pattern of coloration, resembles the _C.

mexicanus_, although the colors are very different. Thus the shafts of

the quills, with their under surfaces, are gamboge-yellow, instead of

orange-red. There is a conspicuous nuchal crescent of crimson wanting,

or but slightly indicated, in _mexicanus_. The cheek-patch is pure

black, widening and abruptly truncate behind, instead of bright

crimson, pointed or rounded behind. The shade of the upper parts is

olivaceous-green, instead of purplish-brown. The top of the head and

the nape are more ashy. The chin, throat, neck, and sides of the head,

are pale purplish or lilac brown, instead of bluish-ash; the space

above, below, and around the eye of the same color, instead of having

reddish-brown above and ashy below.

The young of this species is sufficiently like the adult to be readily

recognizable. Sometimes the entire crown is faintly tipped with red,

as characteristic of young Woodpeckers.

HABITS. The Golden-winged Woodpecker is altogether the most common and

the most widely distributed of the North American representatives of

the genus. According to Sir John Richardson, it visits the fur

countries in the summer, extending its migrations as far to the north

as the Great Slave Lake, and resorting in great numbers to the plains

of the Saskatchewan. It was found by Dr. Woodhouse very abundant in

Texas and the Indian Territory, and it is given by Reinhardt as

occurring in Greenland. Mr. McFarlane found it breeding at Fort

Anderson; Mr. Ross at Fort Rae, Fort Resolution, and Fort Simpson; and

Mr. Kennicott at Fort Yukon. All this testimony demonstrates a

distribution throughout the entire eastern portion of North America,

from the Gulf of Mexico almost to the Arctic Ocean, and from the

Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.

In the more northern portions of the continent this bird is only a

summer visitant, but in the Southern and Middle, and to some extent in

the New England States, it is a permanent resident. Wilson speaks of

seeing them exposed for sale in the markets of Philadelphia during

each month of a very rigorous winter. Wilson’s observations of their

habits during breeding, made in Pennsylvania, were that early in April

they begin to prepare their nest. This is built in the hollow body or

branch of a tree, sometimes, though not always, at a considerable

height from the ground. He adds that he has frequently known them to

fix on the trunk of an old apple-tree, at a height not more than six

feet from the root. He also mentions as quite surprising the sagacity

of this bird in discovering, under a sound bark, a hollow limb or

trunk of a tree, and its perseverance in perforating it for purposes

of incubation. The male and female alternately relieve and encourage

each other by mutual caresses, renewing their labors for several days,

till the object is attained, and the place rendered sufficiently

capacious, convenient, and secure. They are often so extremely intent

upon their work as to be heard at their labor till a very late hour in

the night. Wilson mentions one instance where he knew a pair to dig

first five inches straight forward, and then downward more than twice

that distance, into a solid black-oak. They carry in no materials for

their nest, the soft chips and dust of the wood serving for this

purpose. The female lays six white eggs, almost transparent, very

thick at the greater end, and tapering suddenly to the other. The

young soon leave the nest, climbing to the higher branches, where they

are fed by their parents.

According to Mr. Audubon this Woodpecker rears two broods in a season,

the usual number of eggs being six. In one instance, however, Mr.

MacCulloch, quoted by Audubon, speaks of having found a nest in a

rotten stump, which contained no less than eighteen young birds, of

various ages, and at least two eggs not quite hatched. It is not

improbable that, in cases where the number of eggs exceeds seven or

eight, more females than one have contributed to the number. In one

instance, upon sawing off the decayed top of an old tree, in which

these birds had a nest, twelve eggs were found. These were not

molested, but, on visiting the place a few days after, I found the

excavation to have been deepened from eighteen to twenty-four inches.

Mr. C. S. Paine, of Randolph, Vt., writing in October, 1860, furnishes

some interesting observations made in regard to these birds in the

central part of that State. He says, “This Woodpecker is very common,

and makes its appearance about the 20th of April. Between the 1st and

the 15th of May it usually commences boring a hole for the nest, and

deposits its eggs the last of May or the first of June.” He found

three nests that year, all of which were in old stumps on the banks of

a small stream. Each nest contained _seven_ eggs. The boy who took

them out was able to do so without any cutting, and found them at the

depth of his elbow. In another nest there were but three eggs when

first discovered. The limb was cut down nearly to a level with the

eggs, which were taken. The next day the nest had been deepened a

whole foot and another egg deposited. Mr. Paine has never known them

go into thick woods to breed, but they seem rather to prefer the edges

of woods. He has never known one to breed in an old cavity, but in one

instance a pair selected a partially decayed stump for their

operations. When they are disturbed, they sometimes fly around their

nests, uttering shrill, squeaking notes, occasionally intermixing with

them guttural or gurgling tones.

It is probably true that they usually excavate their own burrow, but

this is not an invariable rule. In the fall of 1870 a pair of these

Woodpeckers took shelter in my barn, remaining there during the

winter. Although there were abundant means of entrance and of egress,

they wrought for themselves other passages out and in through the most

solid part of the sides of the building. Early in the spring they took

possession of a large cavity in an old apple-tree, directly on the

path between the barn and the house, where they reared their family.

They were very shy, and rarely permitted themselves to be seen. The

nest contained six young, each of which had been hatched at successive

intervals, leaving the nest one after the other. The youngest was

nearly a fortnight later to depart than the first. Just before leaving

the nest, the oldest bird climbed to the opening of the cavity,

filling the whole space, and uttering a loud hissing sound whenever

the nest was approached. As soon as they could use their wings, even

partially, they were removed, one by one, to a more retired part of

the grounds, where they were fed by their parents.

Throughout Massachusetts, this bird, generally known as the Pigeon

Woodpecker, is one of the most common and familiar birds. They abound

in old orchards and groves, and manifest more apparent confidence in

man than the treatment they receive at his hands seems to justify.

Their nests are usually constructed at the distance of only a few feet

from the ground, and though Wilson, Audubon, and Nuttall agree upon

six as the average of their eggs, they frequently exceed this number.

Mr. Audubon gives as the measurement of the eggs of this species 1.08

inches in length and .88 of an inch in breadth. Their length varies

from 1.05 to 1.15 inches, and their breadth from .91 to .85 of an

inch. Their average measurement is 1.09 by .88 of an inch.

Colaptes mexicanus, SWAINSON.

RED-SHAFTED FLICKER.

_Colaptes mexicanus_, SW. Syn. Mex. Birds, in Philos. Mag. I, 1827,

440.—IB. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 315.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. &

Or. Route, 91; P. R. R. Rep. VI, 1857.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.

1858, 120.—MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858, 420, mixed with

_hybridus_.—LORD, Proc. R. Art. Inst. I, IV, 112.—COOPER &

SUCKLEY, 163.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 309 (Oaxaca).—IB. Cat.

1862, 344.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 470 (San Antonio,

rare).—COUES, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 56.—SUMICHRAST, Mem. Bost.

Soc. I, 1869, 562 (alpine district, Vera Cruz).—GRAY, Cat.

1868, 121.—DALL & BANNISTER, Pr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 275

(Alaska).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 408. _Picus mexicanus_,

AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 174, pl. ccccxvi.—IB. Birds America,

IV, 1842, 295, pl. cclxxiv.—SUNDEVALL, Consp. 72. _Colaptes

collaris_, VIGORS, Zoöl. Jour. IV, Jan. 1829, 353.—IB. Zoöl.

Beechey’s Voy. 1839, 24, pl. ix. _Picus rubricatus_, WAGLER,

Isis, 1829, V, May, 516. (“Lichtenstein Mus. Berol.”) _Colaptes

rubricatus_, BON. Pr. Zoöl. Soc. V, 1837, 108.—IB. List,

1838.—IB. Conspectus, 1850, 114. _? Picus cafer_, GMELIN,

Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 431.—LATH. Index Ornith. II, 1790, 242.

_? Picus lathami_, WAGLER, Syst. 1827, No. 85 (Cape of Good

Hope?).

SP. CHAR. Shafts and under surfaces of wing and tail feathers

orange-red. Male with a red patch on each side the cheek; nape without

red crescent; sometimes very faint indications laterally. Throat and

stripe beneath the eye bluish-ash. Back glossed with purplish-brown.

Female without the red cheek-patch. Length, about 13.00; wing, over

6.50.

[Illustration: _Colaptes mexicanus._]

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS. Spots on the belly, a crescent on the breast,

and interrupted transverse bands on the back, black.

HAB. Western North America from Pacific to the Black Hills; north to

Sitka on the coast. Localities: Oaxaca (SCL. P. Z. S. 1858, 305); Vera

Cruz, alpine regions (SUMICHRAST, Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 1869. 562); San

Antonio, Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865. 470); W. Arizona (COUES, P. A. N.

S. 1866, 56).

The female is similar in every way, perhaps a little smaller, but

lacks the red mustache. This is, however, indicated by a brown tinge

over an area corresponding with that of the red of the male.

In the present specimen (1,886) there is a slight indication of an

interrupted nuchal red band, as in the common Flicker, in some crimson

fibres to some of the feathers about as far behind the eye as this is

from the bill. A large proportion of males before us exhibit the same

characteristic, some more, some less, although it generally requires

careful examination for its detection. It may possibly be a

characteristic of the not fully mature bird, although it occurs in two

out of three male specimens.

There is a little variation in the size of the pectoral crescent and

spots; the latter are sometimes rounded or oblong cordate, instead of

circular. The bill varies as much as three or four tenths of an inch.

The rump, usually immaculate, sometimes has a few black streaks. The

extent of the red whisker varies a little. In skins from Oregon and

Washington the color of the back is as described; in those from

California and New Mexico it is of a grayer cast. There is little, if

any, variation in the shade of red in the whiskers and quill-feathers.

The head is washed on the forehead with rufous, passing into ashy on

the nape.

There is not only some difference in the size of this species, in the

same locality, but, as a general rule, the more southern specimens are

smaller.

This species is distinct from the _C. mexicanoides_ of Lafresnaye,

though somewhat resembling it. It is, however, a smaller bird; the red

of the cheeks is deeper; the whole upper part of the head and neck

uniform reddish-cinnamon without any ash, in marked contrast to that

on the sides of the head. The back is strongly glossed with

reddish-brown, and the black transverse bars are much more distinct,

closer and broader, three or four on each feather, instead of two

only. The rump and upper tail-coverts are closely barred, the centre

of the former only clearer white, but even here each feather has a

cordate spot of white. The spots on the flanks posteriorly exhibit a

tendency to become transverse bars.

Specimens from Mount Orizaba, Mexico, are very similar to those from

Oregon in color, presenting no appreciable difference. The size is,

however, much less, a male measuring 10.50, wing 6.00, tail 4.60

inches, instead of 12.75, 6.75, and 5.25 respectively. While, however,

the feet are smaller (tarsus 1.00 instead of 1.15), the bill is fully

as large, or even larger.

Most young birds of this species have a tinge of red on top of the

head, and frequently a decided nuchal crescent of red; but these are

only embryonic features, and disappear with maturity.

HABITS. This species, the counterpart in so many respects of the

Golden-winged Woodpecker, appears to take the place of that species

from the slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, throughout

western North America. Dr. Woodhouse speaks of finding it abundant

along the banks of the Rio Grande. And in the fine collection

belonging to the Smithsonian Institution are specimens from the

Straits of Fuca, Fort Steilacoom, and Fort Vancouver, in Washington

Territory, from the Columbia River, from various points in California,

New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Mexico, etc. Dr.

Gambel, in his Paper on the birds of California, first met with the

Red-shafted Woodpecker soon after leaving New Mexico, and it continued

to California, where he found it very abundant. He describes it as a

remarkably shy bird, and adds that he always saw it on the margins of

small creeks, where nothing grew larger than a willow-bush. Dr.

Heermann also found it abundant in California. Dr. Newberry, in his

Report on the zoölogy of Lieutenant Williamson’s expedition, speaks of

the Red-shafted Flicker as rather a common bird in all parts of

California and Oregon which his party visited. He describes many of

its habits as identical with those of the Golden Flicker (_C.

auratus_), but regards it as much the shyer bird. Dr. Cooper also

mentions the fact of the great abundance of this bird along the

western coast, equalling that of its closely allied cousin on the

eastern side of the Mississippi. It also resembles, he adds, that bird

so exactly in habits and notes that the description of one will apply

with exactness to the other. It is a constant resident in Washington

Territory, or at least west of the Cascade Mountains. He observed it

already burrowing out holes for its nests in April, at the Straits of

Fuca. About June 1 he found a nest containing seven young, nearly

fledged, which already showed in the male the distinguishing red

mustache. Dr. Suckley, in the same report, also says that it is

extremely common in the timbered districts of Washington Territory,

and adds that its habits, voice, calls, etc., are precisely similar to

those of the Yellow-Hammer of the Eastern States. Mr. Nuttall, as

quoted by Mr. Audubon, states that he first came upon this bird in the

narrow belt of forest which borders Laramie’s Fork of the Platte, and

adds that he scarcely lost sight of it from that time until he reached

the shores of the Pacific. Its manners, in all respects, are so

entirely similar to those of the common species that the same

description applies to both. He also regards it as the shyer bird of

the two, and less frequently seen on the ground. They burrow in the

oak and pine trees, and lay white eggs, after the manner of the whole

family, and these eggs are in no wise distinguishable from those of

the Golden-wing.

Dr. Cooper, in his Report upon the birds of California, refers to this

as a common species, and found in every part of the State except the

bare plains. It even frequents the low bushes, where no trees are to

be seen for miles. In the middle wooded districts, and towards the

north, it is much more abundant than elsewhere.

Their nesting-holes are at all heights from the ground, and are

usually about one foot in depth. In the southern part of the State

their eggs are laid in April, but farther north, at the Columbia, in

May.

Dr. Cooper attributes their shyness in certain localities to their

being hunted so much by the Indians for their bright feathers.

Generally he found them quite tame, so that their interesting habits

may be watched without difficulty. He regards them as an exact

counterpart of the eastern _auratus_, living largely on insects and

ants, which they collect without much trouble, and do not depend upon

hard work, like other Woodpeckers, for their food. During the season

they also feed largely on berries. Their curved bill is not well

adapted for hammering sound wood for insects, and they only dig into

decayed trees in search of their food. Like the eastern species, the

young of these birds, when their nest is approached, make a curious

hissing noise. They may be seen chasing each other round the trunk of

trees, as if in sport, uttering, at the same time, loud cries like

_whittoo, whittoo, whittoo_. Dr. Kennerly found these birds from the

Big Sandy to the Great Colorado, but they were so shy that he could

not obtain a specimen. They were seen on the barren hills among the

large cacti, in which they nest. Their extreme shyness was fully

explained afterwards by finding how closely they are hunted by the

Indians for the sake of their feathers, of which head-dresses are

made.

Mr. Dresser states that this bird is found as far east as San Antonio,

where, however, it is of uncommon occurrence. In December he noticed

several near the Nueces River, and in February and March obtained

others near Piedras Negras.

Dr. Coues gives it as abundant and resident in Arizona, where it is

found in all situations. Its tongue, he states, is capable of

protrusion to an extent far beyond that of any other North American

Woodpecker.

This bird, in some parts of California, is known as the Yellow-Hammer,

a name given in some parts of New England to the _Colaptes auratus_.

Mr. C. W. Plass, of Napa City, writes me that this Woodpecker “makes

himself too much at home with us to be agreeable. He drills large

holes though the weather-boards of the house, and shelters himself at

night between them and the inner wall. He does, not nest there, but

simply makes of such situations his winter home. We have had to shoot

them, for we find it is of no use to shut up one hole, as they will at

once make another by its side.”

Mr. J. A. Allen mentions finding this species, in the absence of

suitable trees on the Plains, making excavations in sand-banks.

According to Mr. Ridgway, the Red-shafted Flicker does not differ from

the Yellow-shafted species of the east in the slightest particular, as

regards habits, manners, and notes. It is, however, more shy than the

eastern species, probably from the fact that it is pursued by the

Indians, who prize its quill and tail-feathers as ornaments with which

to adorn their dress.

Their eggs are hardly distinguishable from those of the _auratus_, but

range of a very slightly superior size. They average 1.12 inches in

length by .89 of an inch in breadth. Their greatest length is 1.15

inches, their least 1.10, and their breadth ranges from .87 to .90.

Colaptes hybridus, BAIRD.

HYBRID FLICKER.

_Colaptes ayresii_, AUD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 348, pl. ccccxciv.

_Colaptes hybridus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 122. _Colaptes

mexicanus_, MAX. Cab. Jour. 1858, 422 (mixed with _mexicanus_).

_Picas hybridus aurato-mexicanus_, SUNDEVALL, Consp. Pic. 1866,

721.

SP. CHAR. Yellow shafts or feathers on wing and tail combined with

red, or red spotted cheek-patches. Orange-red shafts combined with a

well-defined nuchal red crescent, and pinkish throat. Ash-colored

throat combined with black cheek-patch or yellow shafts. Shafts and

feathers intermediate between gamboge-yellow and dark orange-red.

HAB. Upper Missouri and Yellowstone; Black Hills.

[Illustration: PLATE LV.

1. Colaptes auratus. ♂ 2122.

2. ” ” ♀.

3. ” mexicanus. ♂.

4. ” ” ♀.]

The general distribution of _Colaptes mexicanus_, as already

indicated, is from the Pacific coast of the United States, eastward to

the Black Hills and the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone; that of the

_C. auratus_ from the Atlantic Coast to about the eastern limits of

_mexicanus_. But little variation is seen in the two species up to the

region mentioned; slight differences in shade of color, size, and

frequency of spots, etc., being all. Where they come together,

however, or overlap, a most remarkable race is seen, in which no two

specimens, nay, scarcely the two sides of the same bird, are alike,

the characters of the two species becoming mixed up in the most

extraordinary manner. Thus, the shafts show every shade from

orange-red to pure yellow; yellow shafts combine with red cheek-patch

(as in _C. ayresii_ of Audubon); a red nape, with orange-red shafts;

cheek-patches red with black feathers intermixed, or _vice versa_;

perhaps the feathers red at base and black at tip, or black at base

and red at tip, etc. As the subject has been presented in sufficient

detail in the Birds of North America, as quoted above, it need not be

repeated here, except to say that collections received since 1858 only

substantiate what has there been stated.

To the race thus noted, the name _hybridus_ was given, not as of a

variety, since it is not entitled to this rank, but as of a

heterogeneous mixture, caused by the breeding together of two

different species, and requiring some appellation. Whether the

presumed hybrids are fertile, and breed with each other or with

full-blooded parents, has not yet been ascertained; perhaps not, since

the area in which they occur is limited, and it is only occasionally

that individuals of the kind referred to have been found beyond the

bounds mentioned. It is very rarely, however, that pure breeds occur

in the district of _hybridus_, a taint being generally appreciable in

all.

The conditions in the present instance appear different from those

adverted to under the head of _Picus villosus_, where the question is

not one of hybridism between two strongly marked and distinct species,

but of the gradual change, between the Atlantic and the Pacific, from

one pattern of coloration to another.

Colaptes chrysoides, MALH.

THE CAPE FLICKER.

_Geopicus chrysoides_, MALH. Rev. et Mag. Zoöl. IV, 1852, 553.—IB.

Mon. Pic. II, 261, tab. 109. _Colaptes chrysoides_, BAIRD,

Birds N. Am. 1858, 125.—ELLIOT, Ill. Birds N. Am. VI,

plate.—COOPER, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1861, 122 (Fort Mohave).—COUES,

Pr. A. N. Sc. 1866, 56 (Arizona).—SCL. Cat. 1862,

344.—ELLIOT, Illust. Am. B. I, pl. xxvi.—_Cooper_, Orn. Cal.

I, 1870, 410. _Picus chrysoides_, SUNDEVALL, Consp. 72.

SP. CHAR. Markings generally as in other species. Top of head

rufous-brown; chin, throat, and sides of head ash-gray. Shafts of

quills and tail-feathers, with their under surfaces in great part,

gamboge-yellow; no nuchal red. Malar patch of male red; wanting in the

female. Length, 11.50; wing, 5.75; tail, 4.50.

HAB. Colorado and Gila River, north to Fort Mohave, south to Cape St.

Lucas. Localities: Fort Mohave (COOPER, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1861, 122); W.

Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 56).

This interesting species is intermediate between _auratus_ and

_mexicanus_ in having the yellow shafts and quills of the former; a

red malar patch, an ashy throat, and no nuchal crescent, as in the

latter. To _mexicanoides_ the relationship is still closer, since both

have the rufous-brown head above. A hybrid between this last species

and _auratus_ would in some varieties come very near _chrysoides_, but

as it does not belong to the region of _chrysoides_, and there is no

transition from one species to the other in any specimens, as in

_hybridus_, there is no occasion to take this view of the species.

Cape St. Lucas specimens, where the species is exceedingly abundant,

are considerably smaller than those from Arizona, and appear to be

more strongly marked with black above and below; otherwise there seems

to be no difference of special importance.

As neither _C. auratus_ nor _mexicanus_ has the top of the head

rufous-brown, (though slightly indicated anteriorly in the latter),

this character has not been noted in the hybrids between the two

(_hybridus_), and its presence in _chrysoides_ will serve to

distinguish it from _hybridus_.

HABITS. This comparatively new form of Woodpecker was first described

in 1852 by Malherbe, from a California specimen in the Paris Museum,

which had been at first supposed to be a female or immature _ayresii_.

What Dr. Cooper thinks may have been this species was met with by Dr.

Heermann among the mountains bordering upon the Cosumnes River, in

California, where it was rare, and only two specimens were taken. In

February, 1861, other specimens of this bird were taken at Fort Mohave

by Dr. Cooper. They were feeding on larvæ and insects among the

poplar-trees, and were very shy and wary. The bird is supposed to

winter in the Colorado Valley, and wherever found has been met with in

valleys, and not on mountains. It is an abundant and characteristic

member of the Cape St. Lucas fauna.

According to Dr. Cooper these birds were already mated at Fort Mohave

after February 20. They had the same habits, flight, and cries as the

_C. mexicanus_. They appeared to be migratory, having come from the

south.

Mr. Xantus, in his brief notes on the birds of Cape St. Lucas, makes

mention of finding this bird breeding, May 19, in a dead _Cereus

giganteus_. The nest was a large cavity about fifteen feet from the

ground, and contained only one egg. The parent bird was also secured.

In another instance two eggs were found in a _Cereus giganteus_, at

the distance of forty feet from the ground. The eggs were not

noticeably different from those of the common _Colaptes mexicanus_.

FAMILY PSITTACIDÆ.—THE PARROTS.

CHAR. Bill greatly hooked; the maxilla movable and with a cere at the

base. Nostrils in the base of the bill. Feet scansorial, covered with

granulated scales.

The above diagnosis characterizes briefly a family of the

_Zygodactyli_ having representatives throughout the greater part of

the world, except Europe, and embracing about three hundred and fifty

species, according to the late enumeration of Finsch,[136] of which

one hundred and forty-two, or nearly one half, are American (seventy

Brazilian alone). The subfamilies are as follows:—

I. Stringopinæ. Appearance owl-like; face somewhat veiled

or with a facial disk, as in the Owls.

II. Plyctolophinæ. Head with an erectile crest, of

variable shape.

III. Sittacinæ. Head plain. Tail long, or lengthened,

wedge-shaped or graduated.

IV. Psittacinæ. Head plain. Tail short or moderate,

straight or rounded.

V. Trichoglossinæ. Tip of tongue papillose. Bill

compressed; tip of maxilla internally smooth, not crenate;

gonys obliquely ascending.

Of these, Nos. III and IV alone are represented in the New World, and

only the _Sittacinæ_ occur in the United States, with one species.

[136] Die Papageien. Monographisch bearbeitet von Otto

Finsch. 2 vols. Leiden, 1867, 1868.

SUBFAMILY SITTACINÆ.

The lengthened cuneate tail, as already stated, distinguishes

this group from the American _Psittacinæ_ with short, square, or

rounded tail. The genera are distinguished as follows:—

Sittace. Culmen flattened. Face naked, except in _S.

pachyrhyncha_. Tail as long as or longer than wings.

Conurus. Culmen rounded. Face entirely feathered, except a

curve around the eye. Tail shorter than wings.

Of the genus _Sittace_, which embraces eighteen species, two come

sufficiently near to the southern borders of the United States to

render it not impossible that they may yet be found to cross the

border. Of one of these, indeed, (_S. pachyrhyncha_,) there is a

specimen in the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural

Sciences, presented by J. W. Audubon as shot on the Rio Grande of

Texas; and another (_S. militaris_) is common at Mazatlan, and perhaps

even at Guaymas. There is considerable reason for doubt as to the

authenticity of the alleged locality of the _S. pachyrhyncha_, but for

the purpose of identification, should either species present itself,

we give diagnoses in the accompanying foot-note.[137]

[137]

A. Tail longer than the wings; lores and cheeks naked; the

latter with narrow lines of small feathers.

S. militaris. Green; forehead red; posterior portion of

back, upper and under tail-coverts with quills and tip of

tail, sky-blue; under side of tail dirty orange-yellow.

Wing, 14.00; middle tail-feathers, 15.00; tarsus, 1.08.

_Hab._ Northwestern Mexico to Bolivia.

Synonymy: _Psittacus militaris_, LINN. S. N. 1767, 139.

_Sittace militaris_, FINSCH, Die Papageien, I, 1867,

396.

B. Tail about equal to the wings; lores and cheeks

feathered.

S. pachyrhyncha. Green; the forehead, edge of wings, and

the tibiæ red; greater under wing-coverts yellow. Wing,

8.00 to 10.00; middle tail-feather, 6.50. _Hab._ Southern

Mexico (Jalapa and Angangueo), given probably erroneously

from the Rio Grande of Texas. Synonymy: _Macrocercus

pachyrhynchus_, SW. Syn. Birds Mex. in Philos. Mag. I,

1827, 439, No. 79. _Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha_, BON.

Tableau des Perroquets, Rev. et Mag. de Zoöl. 1854, 149.

_Sittace pachyrhyncha_, FINSCH, Die Papageien, I, 1867,

428. _Psittacus pascha_, WAGLER, Isis, 1831, 524.

_Psittacus strenuus_, LICHT. Preis-Verzeichiss, 1830.

GENUS CONURUS, KUHL.

_Conurus_, KUHL, Consp. Psittac. 4, 1830.—IB. Nova Acta K. L.

C. Acad. X, 1830.

GEN. CHAR. Tail long, conical, and pointed; bill stout; cheeks

feathered, but in some species leaving a naked ring round the eye;

cere feathered to the base of the bill.