Illustration: Color plate 51PLATELI.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 11.Sphyropicus varius.♂Pa.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 22.Sphyropicus varius.♀Pa., 2107.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 33.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♂Wyoming, 10769.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 44.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♀Wyoming, 10783.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 55.Sphyropicus williamsoni.♀Cal., 16090.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 66.Sphyropicus ruber.♂Cal., 6038.Sphyropicus varius,var.varius,Baird.THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.Picus varius,L. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 176.—Vieillot,Ois. Am.II, 1807, 63,pl. cxviii, cxix.—Wilson,Am. Orn. I, 1808, 147,pl. ix, f.2.—Wagler,Syst. Av.1827,No.16.—Aud.Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 519;V, 537,pl.190.—Ib.BirdsAmer. IV, 1842, 263,pl. cclxvii.—Bon.List, 1838.—Ib.Consp.1850, 138.—Maxim.Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 416 (refers to peculiar tongue).—Gosse, BirdsJam.270 (Jamaica).—Newton, Ibis, 1860, 308 (St.Croix).—Taylor, Ibis, 1860, 119 (Honduras).—Sundevall,Consp.33.—Gray,Cat.51.Picus (Dendrocopus) varius,Sw.F. B. A. II, 1831, 309.Pilumnus varius,Bon.Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital.1854, 8.Cladoscopus varius,Cab. & Hein.Mus.80.? Picus atrothorax,Lesson, Traité d’Ornithologie,I, 1831, 229.—Pucheran,Rev. Zoöl. VII, 1835, 21. (Refers it toPicus varius.)Yellow-bellied Woodpecker,Pennant,Latham.Sphyropicus varius,Baird, BirdsN. Am.1858, 103.—Sclater,P. Z. S.1859, 367 (Xalapa).—Ib.Catal.335 (Orizaba).—Ib.Ibis, 1859, 136 (Guatemala).—Ib.1860, 119 (Honduras).—Cab.Journal,IV, 1856, 102.—Gundlach, Repertorium,I, 1866, 294 (Cuba).—Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc.1859 (Bahamas).—Ib.1865, 91 (Anatomy of tongue.)—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468 (breeds in Texas).—Samuels, 96.—Allen,B. E. Fla.306.Illustration: Sphyropicus variusSphyropicus varius.Sp. Char.Third quill longest; second a little shorter; first between fourth and fifth considerably shorter. General color above black, much variegated with white. Feathers of the back and rump brownish-white, spotted with black. Crown crimson, bordered by black on the sides of the head and nape. A streak from above the eye, and a broad stripe from the bristles of the bill, passing below the eye, and into the yellowish of the belly, enclosing a black post-ocular one, and a stripe along the edges of the wing-coverts, white. A triangular broad patch of scarlet on the chin, bordered on each side by black stripes from the lower mandible which meet behind, and extend into a large quadrate spot on the breast. Rest of under parts yellowish-white, or yellow, streaked and banded on the sides with black. Inner web of inner tail-feather white, spotted with black. Outer feathers black, edged and spotted with white. Quills spotted with white. Length, 8.25; wing, about 4.75; tail, 3.30.Femalewith the red of the throat replaced by white. Immature bird without black on the breast, or red on top of the head, as in every intermediate stage to the perfect plumage.Hab.Atlantic coast to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains; Greenland; West Indies; whole of Mexico, to Guatemala. Localities: ? Oaxaca (Scl.P. Z. S.1858, 305); Orizaba (Scl.Cat.335); Xalapa (Scl.1859, 367); Yucatan (Lawr.Ann. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 205); Guatemala (Scl.Ibis,I, 136); Honduras (Scl.Ibis,II, 119); Cuba (Cab.J. IV, 102); (Gundl.Repert. I, 1866, 294); Bahamas (Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859;Ib.1867, 65); Jamaica (Gosse,B. Jam.270);St.Croix (Scl.Ibis,II, 308);E.Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468; breeds).There is an occasional variation in the markings of the tail-feathers. Thus, inNo.782, from Carlisle, the innermost one is entirely black, whilein 4,631, from the Upper Missouri, the outer web of the same feather has nearly, and in 2,107, from Carlisle, it has quite, as much white as the inner web. The outer webs do not appear to vary so much.Specimens from the whole of Mexico, including even the west coast, are referrible tovarius; they are probably winter migrants from the eastern United States.A female, from Washington, D. C. (No.12,260, C. Drexler), has the lower half of the throat much mixed with red, as invar.nuchalis; but there is no trace of this color on the nape. A male from Carlisle (No.12,071, W. M. Baird) has the nape distinctly tinged with red, as innuchalis, but the black malar stripe is uninterrupted. Similar specimens have been taken in New England, by Messrs. Brewster and Henshaw.Many females occur with the entire pileum glossy-black, there being no trace of red, though there are sometimes specks of white.Habits.The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is found throughout the United States, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Atlantic on the east to the Rocky Mountains, and is met with as far to the north as the 61st parallel of latitude. Sir John Richardson found it common in the fur countries, being the only Woodpecker that visits those regions in flocks. He observed the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker on the north shore of Lake Huron on the 14th of April, in 1825, and in 1827 it made its first appearance for the season, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, on the 14th of May. Swainson received specimens of this Woodpecker from Mexico. De la Sagra and Dr. Gundlach both give it in their list of Cuban birds, though not as breeding on that island. Gosse obtained several specimens in the months of December, January, and February, in Jamaica, where he regarded it as only a winter migrant from the northern continent. It is not given by the Newtons among the birds ofSt.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 ofSt.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 beforethe 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 withoutmuch 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 thepubescens, 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 inS. 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 invarius. 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 ofS. 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 fromvariushave 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 invarius. 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 invarius. The breast is much paler, only slightly tinged with yellow, instead of the rich color to whichS. variusowes its trivial name.Young birds vary in color to the same excessive degree as invarius.Habits.This form, closely allied to thevarius, 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 theS. 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 altitudeaveraging 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 subisandTachycineta 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 ofS. 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 whichnuchalisandvariusare the other forms. The differences fromvariusconsist 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. nuchalisis exactly intermediate in all respects betweenS. ruberandS. 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 reverberatingt’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 andMag. N. H. 3dseries,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. Exposedsurface 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 ofP. harrisiandP. 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 ofP. 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 theS. 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 ofS. 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, BirdsN. 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.1, 1870, 394.? ? Picus nataliæ,Malherbe,Cab. Journ. f. Ornith.1854, 171.Sp. Char.About the size ofP. 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 theS. 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 aCenturus, when flying.GenusHYLOTOMUS,Baird.Dryotomus,Malherbe,Mém. Ac.Metz, 1849, 322. (Not ofSwainson, 1831.)Dryopicus,Bonap.Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital.May, 1854. (Not ofMalherbe.)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 inCampephilus, 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 toCampephilus, but differs essentially in many respects; the differences being, however, mostly those which distinguish all other Woodpeckers from the species ofCampephilus, 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 inHylotomus, which is about exactly intermediatebetween 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.Illustration: Hylotomus pileatusHylotomus pileatus.1723♀OfHylotomusthere 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 theH. pileatus) they resemble closely species ofCampephilus(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 ofCampephilus, 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.BirdsAmer. 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: Color plate 51PLATELI.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 11.Sphyropicus varius.♂Pa.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 22.Sphyropicus varius.♀Pa., 2107.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 33.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♂Wyoming, 10769.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 44.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♀Wyoming, 10783.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 55.Sphyropicus williamsoni.♀Cal., 16090.Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 66.Sphyropicus ruber.♂Cal., 6038.Sphyropicus varius,var.varius,Baird.THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.Picus varius,L. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 176.—Vieillot,Ois. Am.II, 1807, 63,pl. cxviii, cxix.—Wilson,Am. Orn. I, 1808, 147,pl. ix, f.2.—Wagler,Syst. Av.1827,No.16.—Aud.Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 519;V, 537,pl.190.—Ib.BirdsAmer. IV, 1842, 263,pl. cclxvii.—Bon.List, 1838.—Ib.Consp.1850, 138.—Maxim.Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 416 (refers to peculiar tongue).—Gosse, BirdsJam.270 (Jamaica).—Newton, Ibis, 1860, 308 (St.Croix).—Taylor, Ibis, 1860, 119 (Honduras).—Sundevall,Consp.33.—Gray,Cat.51.Picus (Dendrocopus) varius,Sw.F. B. A. II, 1831, 309.Pilumnus varius,Bon.Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital.1854, 8.Cladoscopus varius,Cab. & Hein.Mus.80.? Picus atrothorax,Lesson, Traité d’Ornithologie,I, 1831, 229.—Pucheran,Rev. Zoöl. VII, 1835, 21. (Refers it toPicus varius.)Yellow-bellied Woodpecker,Pennant,Latham.Sphyropicus varius,Baird, BirdsN. Am.1858, 103.—Sclater,P. Z. S.1859, 367 (Xalapa).—Ib.Catal.335 (Orizaba).—Ib.Ibis, 1859, 136 (Guatemala).—Ib.1860, 119 (Honduras).—Cab.Journal,IV, 1856, 102.—Gundlach, Repertorium,I, 1866, 294 (Cuba).—Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc.1859 (Bahamas).—Ib.1865, 91 (Anatomy of tongue.)—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468 (breeds in Texas).—Samuels, 96.—Allen,B. E. Fla.306.Illustration: Sphyropicus variusSphyropicus varius.Sp. Char.Third quill longest; second a little shorter; first between fourth and fifth considerably shorter. General color above black, much variegated with white. Feathers of the back and rump brownish-white, spotted with black. Crown crimson, bordered by black on the sides of the head and nape. A streak from above the eye, and a broad stripe from the bristles of the bill, passing below the eye, and into the yellowish of the belly, enclosing a black post-ocular one, and a stripe along the edges of the wing-coverts, white. A triangular broad patch of scarlet on the chin, bordered on each side by black stripes from the lower mandible which meet behind, and extend into a large quadrate spot on the breast. Rest of under parts yellowish-white, or yellow, streaked and banded on the sides with black. Inner web of inner tail-feather white, spotted with black. Outer feathers black, edged and spotted with white. Quills spotted with white. Length, 8.25; wing, about 4.75; tail, 3.30.Femalewith the red of the throat replaced by white. Immature bird without black on the breast, or red on top of the head, as in every intermediate stage to the perfect plumage.Hab.Atlantic coast to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains; Greenland; West Indies; whole of Mexico, to Guatemala. Localities: ? Oaxaca (Scl.P. Z. S.1858, 305); Orizaba (Scl.Cat.335); Xalapa (Scl.1859, 367); Yucatan (Lawr.Ann. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 205); Guatemala (Scl.Ibis,I, 136); Honduras (Scl.Ibis,II, 119); Cuba (Cab.J. IV, 102); (Gundl.Repert. I, 1866, 294); Bahamas (Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859;Ib.1867, 65); Jamaica (Gosse,B. Jam.270);St.Croix (Scl.Ibis,II, 308);E.Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468; breeds).There is an occasional variation in the markings of the tail-feathers. Thus, inNo.782, from Carlisle, the innermost one is entirely black, whilein 4,631, from the Upper Missouri, the outer web of the same feather has nearly, and in 2,107, from Carlisle, it has quite, as much white as the inner web. The outer webs do not appear to vary so much.Specimens from the whole of Mexico, including even the west coast, are referrible tovarius; they are probably winter migrants from the eastern United States.A female, from Washington, D. C. (No.12,260, C. Drexler), has the lower half of the throat much mixed with red, as invar.nuchalis; but there is no trace of this color on the nape. A male from Carlisle (No.12,071, W. M. Baird) has the nape distinctly tinged with red, as innuchalis, but the black malar stripe is uninterrupted. Similar specimens have been taken in New England, by Messrs. Brewster and Henshaw.Many females occur with the entire pileum glossy-black, there being no trace of red, though there are sometimes specks of white.Habits.The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is found throughout the United States, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Atlantic on the east to the Rocky Mountains, and is met with as far to the north as the 61st parallel of latitude. Sir John Richardson found it common in the fur countries, being the only Woodpecker that visits those regions in flocks. He observed the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker on the north shore of Lake Huron on the 14th of April, in 1825, and in 1827 it made its first appearance for the season, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, on the 14th of May. Swainson received specimens of this Woodpecker from Mexico. De la Sagra and Dr. Gundlach both give it in their list of Cuban birds, though not as breeding on that island. Gosse obtained several specimens in the months of December, January, and February, in Jamaica, where he regarded it as only a winter migrant from the northern continent. It is not given by the Newtons among the birds ofSt.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 ofSt.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 beforethe 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 withoutmuch 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 thepubescens, 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 inS. 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 invarius. 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 ofS. 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 fromvariushave 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 invarius. 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 invarius. The breast is much paler, only slightly tinged with yellow, instead of the rich color to whichS. variusowes its trivial name.Young birds vary in color to the same excessive degree as invarius.Habits.This form, closely allied to thevarius, 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 theS. 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 altitudeaveraging 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 subisandTachycineta 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 ofS. 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 whichnuchalisandvariusare the other forms. The differences fromvariusconsist 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. nuchalisis exactly intermediate in all respects betweenS. ruberandS. 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 reverberatingt’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 andMag. N. H. 3dseries,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. Exposedsurface 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 ofP. harrisiandP. 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 ofP. 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 theS. 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 ofS. 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, BirdsN. 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.1, 1870, 394.? ? Picus nataliæ,Malherbe,Cab. Journ. f. Ornith.1854, 171.Sp. Char.About the size ofP. 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 theS. 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 aCenturus, when flying.GenusHYLOTOMUS,Baird.Dryotomus,Malherbe,Mém. Ac.Metz, 1849, 322. (Not ofSwainson, 1831.)Dryopicus,Bonap.Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital.May, 1854. (Not ofMalherbe.)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 inCampephilus, 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 toCampephilus, but differs essentially in many respects; the differences being, however, mostly those which distinguish all other Woodpeckers from the species ofCampephilus, 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 inHylotomus, which is about exactly intermediatebetween 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.Illustration: Hylotomus pileatusHylotomus pileatus.1723♀OfHylotomusthere 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 theH. pileatus) they resemble closely species ofCampephilus(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 ofCampephilus, 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.BirdsAmer. 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: Color plate 51PLATELI.
PLATELI.
PLATELI.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 11.Sphyropicus varius.♂Pa.
1.Sphyropicus varius.♂Pa.
1.Sphyropicus varius.♂Pa.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 22.Sphyropicus varius.♀Pa., 2107.
2.Sphyropicus varius.♀Pa., 2107.
2.Sphyropicus varius.♀Pa., 2107.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 33.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♂Wyoming, 10769.
3.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♂Wyoming, 10769.
3.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♂Wyoming, 10769.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 44.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♀Wyoming, 10783.
4.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♀Wyoming, 10783.
4.Sphyropicus nuchalis.♀Wyoming, 10783.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 55.Sphyropicus williamsoni.♀Cal., 16090.
5.Sphyropicus williamsoni.♀Cal., 16090.
5.Sphyropicus williamsoni.♀Cal., 16090.
Illustration: Color plate 51 detail 66.Sphyropicus ruber.♂Cal., 6038.
6.Sphyropicus ruber.♂Cal., 6038.
6.Sphyropicus ruber.♂Cal., 6038.
Sphyropicus varius,var.varius,Baird.
THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.
Picus varius,L. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 176.—Vieillot,Ois. Am.II, 1807, 63,pl. cxviii, cxix.—Wilson,Am. Orn. I, 1808, 147,pl. ix, f.2.—Wagler,Syst. Av.1827,No.16.—Aud.Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 519;V, 537,pl.190.—Ib.BirdsAmer. IV, 1842, 263,pl. cclxvii.—Bon.List, 1838.—Ib.Consp.1850, 138.—Maxim.Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 416 (refers to peculiar tongue).—Gosse, BirdsJam.270 (Jamaica).—Newton, Ibis, 1860, 308 (St.Croix).—Taylor, Ibis, 1860, 119 (Honduras).—Sundevall,Consp.33.—Gray,Cat.51.Picus (Dendrocopus) varius,Sw.F. B. A. II, 1831, 309.Pilumnus varius,Bon.Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital.1854, 8.Cladoscopus varius,Cab. & Hein.Mus.80.? Picus atrothorax,Lesson, Traité d’Ornithologie,I, 1831, 229.—Pucheran,Rev. Zoöl. VII, 1835, 21. (Refers it toPicus varius.)Yellow-bellied Woodpecker,Pennant,Latham.Sphyropicus varius,Baird, BirdsN. Am.1858, 103.—Sclater,P. Z. S.1859, 367 (Xalapa).—Ib.Catal.335 (Orizaba).—Ib.Ibis, 1859, 136 (Guatemala).—Ib.1860, 119 (Honduras).—Cab.Journal,IV, 1856, 102.—Gundlach, Repertorium,I, 1866, 294 (Cuba).—Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc.1859 (Bahamas).—Ib.1865, 91 (Anatomy of tongue.)—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468 (breeds in Texas).—Samuels, 96.—Allen,B. E. Fla.306.
Illustration: Sphyropicus variusSphyropicus varius.
Sphyropicus varius.
Sp. Char.Third quill longest; second a little shorter; first between fourth and fifth considerably shorter. General color above black, much variegated with white. Feathers of the back and rump brownish-white, spotted with black. Crown crimson, bordered by black on the sides of the head and nape. A streak from above the eye, and a broad stripe from the bristles of the bill, passing below the eye, and into the yellowish of the belly, enclosing a black post-ocular one, and a stripe along the edges of the wing-coverts, white. A triangular broad patch of scarlet on the chin, bordered on each side by black stripes from the lower mandible which meet behind, and extend into a large quadrate spot on the breast. Rest of under parts yellowish-white, or yellow, streaked and banded on the sides with black. Inner web of inner tail-feather white, spotted with black. Outer feathers black, edged and spotted with white. Quills spotted with white. Length, 8.25; wing, about 4.75; tail, 3.30.Femalewith the red of the throat replaced by white. Immature bird without black on the breast, or red on top of the head, as in every intermediate stage to the perfect plumage.
Hab.Atlantic coast to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains; Greenland; West Indies; whole of Mexico, to Guatemala. Localities: ? Oaxaca (Scl.P. Z. S.1858, 305); Orizaba (Scl.Cat.335); Xalapa (Scl.1859, 367); Yucatan (Lawr.Ann. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 205); Guatemala (Scl.Ibis,I, 136); Honduras (Scl.Ibis,II, 119); Cuba (Cab.J. IV, 102); (Gundl.Repert. I, 1866, 294); Bahamas (Bryant,Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859;Ib.1867, 65); Jamaica (Gosse,B. Jam.270);St.Croix (Scl.Ibis,II, 308);E.Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 468; breeds).
There is an occasional variation in the markings of the tail-feathers. Thus, inNo.782, from Carlisle, the innermost one is entirely black, whilein 4,631, from the Upper Missouri, the outer web of the same feather has nearly, and in 2,107, from Carlisle, it has quite, as much white as the inner web. The outer webs do not appear to vary so much.
Specimens from the whole of Mexico, including even the west coast, are referrible tovarius; they are probably winter migrants from the eastern United States.
A female, from Washington, D. C. (No.12,260, C. Drexler), has the lower half of the throat much mixed with red, as invar.nuchalis; but there is no trace of this color on the nape. A male from Carlisle (No.12,071, W. M. Baird) has the nape distinctly tinged with red, as innuchalis, but the black malar stripe is uninterrupted. Similar specimens have been taken in New England, by Messrs. Brewster and Henshaw.
Many females occur with the entire pileum glossy-black, there being no trace of red, though there are sometimes specks of white.
Habits.The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is found throughout the United States, from the Gulf of Mexico on the south and the Atlantic on the east to the Rocky Mountains, and is met with as far to the north as the 61st parallel of latitude. Sir John Richardson found it common in the fur countries, being the only Woodpecker that visits those regions in flocks. He observed the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker on the north shore of Lake Huron on the 14th of April, in 1825, and in 1827 it made its first appearance for the season, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, on the 14th of May. Swainson received specimens of this Woodpecker from Mexico. De la Sagra and Dr. Gundlach both give it in their list of Cuban birds, though not as breeding on that island. Gosse obtained several specimens in the months of December, January, and February, in Jamaica, where he regarded it as only a winter migrant from the northern continent. It is not given by the Newtons among the birds ofSt.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 ofSt.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 beforethe 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 withoutmuch 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 thepubescens, 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 inS. 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 invarius. 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 ofS. 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 fromvariushave 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 invarius. 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 invarius. The breast is much paler, only slightly tinged with yellow, instead of the rich color to whichS. variusowes its trivial name.
Young birds vary in color to the same excessive degree as invarius.
Habits.This form, closely allied to thevarius, 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 theS. 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 altitudeaveraging 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 subisandTachycineta 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 ofS. 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 whichnuchalisandvariusare the other forms. The differences fromvariusconsist 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. nuchalisis exactly intermediate in all respects betweenS. ruberandS. 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 reverberatingt’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 andMag. N. H. 3dseries,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. Exposedsurface 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 ofP. harrisiandP. 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 ofP. 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 theS. 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 ofS. 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, BirdsN. 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.1, 1870, 394.? ? Picus nataliæ,Malherbe,Cab. Journ. f. Ornith.1854, 171.
Sp. Char.About the size ofP. 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 theS. 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 aCenturus, when flying.
GenusHYLOTOMUS,Baird.
Dryotomus,Malherbe,Mém. Ac.Metz, 1849, 322. (Not ofSwainson, 1831.)
Dryopicus,Bonap.Consp. Zygod. in Aten. Ital.May, 1854. (Not ofMalherbe.)
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 inCampephilus, 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 toCampephilus, but differs essentially in many respects; the differences being, however, mostly those which distinguish all other Woodpeckers from the species ofCampephilus, 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 inHylotomus, which is about exactly intermediatebetween 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.
Illustration: Hylotomus pileatusHylotomus pileatus.1723♀
Hylotomus pileatus.1723♀
OfHylotomusthere 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 theH. pileatus) they resemble closely species ofCampephilus(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 ofCampephilus, 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.BirdsAmer. 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.