NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 215 



dent in those portions of Lewis county, New York, which pertain to 

 the Canadian fauna ; for they are found both in the Adirondack region 

 and in the coniferous forests bordering Big Alder and Fish Creeks, in 

 the Tug Hill range. Dr. J. G. Cooper found this Woodpecker quite 

 numerous in September, in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe and the sum- 

 mits of the Sierra Nevada, above an altitude of 6,000 feet. Dr. Merrill 

 mentions it as a rather common resident in the vicinity of Fort Kla- 

 math, Oregon ; in summer more common in the mountains. Several 

 nests were found early in July, but with young, fledged. The excava- 

 tions were in dead young pines, not more than five or six feet from the 

 ground, in this respect differing from those of the other Woodpeckers 

 found there, all of which, so far as he had observed, make their holes 

 at a greater height. The eggs range from four to six in number, pure 

 ivory-white ; average size, .95 x .71. 



401. Picoides americanus BREHM. [368.] 



American Three-toed Woodpecker. 



Hab. Northern North America east of the Rocky Mountains, south in winter to the Northern United 

 States. 



The Banded or Ladder-backed Three-toed Woodpecker is found 

 in the spruce and fir regions of Northern North America. It is often 

 found associated with the last species, P. arcticus, whose characteristics 

 are similar, and whose nesting is identical. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam met with a pair of these birds nesting in 

 Northern New York, June 4, 1878. The cavity, which contained four 

 nearly fresh eggs, was in a spruce tree about eight feet from the 

 ground ; the entrance of the hole was an inch and a half in diameter, 

 and the cavity ten inches deep. The eggs are described as cream- 

 white, and of a texture like those of other Woodpeckers ; they are 

 strongly ovate in outline, and measure respectively, 23.8x17.2, 23. 6 x 

 17.8, 23.8x17.9, 23x17.8 millimeters.* 



Dr. Merriam says that this species is found along the eastern 

 border of Lewis county, in the Adirondack region, where it is a resi- 

 dent species, much less common, however, than its congener, the 

 Black-backed Woodpecker, Picoides arciicus. 



Picoides americanus dor salts Baird, belongs to the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region of the United States, and southward into Mexico. P. a. alas- 

 censis Nelson, is from Alaska and Northern British America. 



402. Sphyrapicus varius (LINN.) [369.] 



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 



Hab. Northern and Eastern North America, south in winter to the West Indies, Mexico and Gaute- 

 mala. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is one of the most singularly 



* .94x.68, .93x.70, .94x.71, .91x.70. Bull. Nutt. Club, 111,200. 



