NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



217 



live aspen trees. Dr. James C. Merrill found a nest of this bird in a 

 cavity of a dead young cottonwood, in Montana, June 12. The height 

 of the hole from the ground was twenty-five feet, and near the top of 

 the same tree were three similar holes, probably used by the same birds 

 in previous years. Mr. Dennis Gale, an enthusiastic naturalist, has 

 given Capt. Bendire the results of his observations on the nesting of 

 this Woodpecker in the mountains of Colorado. According to him, its 

 nesting sites are invariably in living aspen trees, along the gulches 

 and hillsides, and the birds are seldom found above an altitude of 9000 

 or much below 8000 feet. In excavating the cavity the female bird 

 does the work from beginning to end, and completes it in from six to 

 ten days. The height of the nesting place from the ground varies from 

 five to thiity feet. 



The eggs are four or five, sometimes less in number. Fresh eggs 

 may be found in Colorado from June i to 15, and should the first set be 

 taken, a second may generally be found in from ten to fifteen days 

 later ; and as a rule, the second nesting-site will not be a great distance 

 from the first one. Several nests of this species may be found within 

 a short distance of one another in the same aspen grove. The cavities 

 are roomy and gourd-shaped. Capt. Bendire gives the measurements 

 of two sets of four eggs each, taken by Mr. Gale. The first set, col- 

 lected June, 1884, measure as follows : .91 x .67, . 90 x 68, .89 x 68, .88 x 

 .64; second set taken June i, 1887, . 90x^9, . 90x^9, .9OX.68, .Sgx 

 65. A set of three eggs taken by himself in the Blue Mountains, Grant 

 county, Oregon, exhibit the following sizes: .9OX.65, 90x64, 88x66. 

 The average measurement is given as .88 x .66. The eggs are pure 

 white after blowing, moderately glossy or lustrous, and generally ovate 

 in shape. * The set of five taken by Dr. Merrill in Montana measure 

 .91x72, .90x73, .93x71, .93x73, .91x73, respectively. 



403. Sphyrapicus ruber (GMEL.) [369^.] 



Red-breasted Sapsucker. 



Hab. Pacific coast region, from California northward into Alaska. 



This species is confined to the Pacific coast region, occurring as 

 far east as the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Cen- 

 tral and Northern California ; in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and 

 Washington Territory, thence northward through British Columbia 

 into Alaska: A handsome bird, with the whole head, neck and breast 

 carmine-red in both sexes. 



Captain Bendire states that this bird is an abundant summer resi- 



* See Notes on the Habits, Nests, and Eggs of th Genus Sphyrapicus Baird. By Capt. Charles E. 

 Bendire : In The Auk, V, pp. 225-240. 



