SPHYROPICUS. 429 
Woodpeckers occupy different “orchards,” each family consisting of a male, female, 
and several young ; that the “orchards” consist of several trees a few rods apart, and 
that these trees are regularly and constantly visited from sunrise to long after sunset, 
not only by the Woodpeckers themselves but by numerous Humming-Birds, which 
feed from the same holes on the sap and insects contained therein. The trees attacked 
generally die after the second or third year of use. 
The excavation for the nest is usually made in large decaying trees at a considerable 
height from the ground. The white eggs, four to six in number, are laid on chips at 
the bottom of the hole. 
2. Sphyropicus nuchalis. 
Sphyrapicus nuchalis, Baird, Birds N. Am. p. 103, t. 35. figg. 1, 2°. 
Sphyropicus nuchalis, Hargitt, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xviii. p. 192°. 
Sphyropicus varius, var. nuchalis, Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, ii. p-. 542 °. 
S. vario similis, sed fascia transversa nuchali coccinea nec albida, gutture quoque colore coccineo latiore usque 
ad fasciam albidam longitudinalem cervicalem extendente. 
2 gula quoque plerumque coccinea. 
Hab. NortH America, Rocky Mountain region}, Arizona?.— Mexico, T emosachic, 
Guerrero, Casa Colorada, Refugio, all in Chihuahua (W. Lloyd), Sierra de Bolafios 
(W. B. Richardson) ; Guatemata, Panajachel (W. B. Richardson). 
This is a western form of S. varius, closely allied but distinguishable by the slight 
characters referred to above. We have received several adult birds from the Mexican 
States of Chihuahua and Jalisco. Also a single male from Guatemala, which was shot 
by Mr. Richardson at Panajachel, on the borders of the lake of Atitlan, at an elevation 
of 5000 feet above the sea. This bird has the scarlet nape-band clearly shown, and 
also the lateral extension of the scarlet throat; it is the only one we have seen from 
so far south. We have no female specimen from Mexico answering to the description 
of the adult bird—that is, with half the throat-patch red. 
It would appear that the seasonal movements of this Woodpecker are not at all 
comparable with those of S. varius. Dr. Coues found it an abundant and permanent 
resident in Arizona, living amongst the cotton-wood trees and willows. Mr. Ridgway 
says it is one of the most characteristic birds of the Wasatch and Uintah mountains, 
its favourite resort during summer being the aspen-groves in the mountains at an 
altitude of about 7000 feet. It nested in the aspen trees in preference to pines. In 
winter it sought the cotton-woods and willows of the river valleys. 
In Mexico it is also probably resident, but our evidence is not complete on this 
point. 
Of the presence of S. ruber in our country we have as yet no trace. This is the bird 
found in the Pacific coast-region of North America, and the extreme form so far as 
