VOL. IV.] Randdm Bird- Notes. lyy 



I saw three of the white-headed woodpecker {Xenopicus 

 albolarvaius). In the dead top of a pine stump some fourteen 

 feet from the ground was a nest of a pair of these birds. After 

 rapping on the stump I could hear the young squeakers calling 

 for their parents. I watched the old birds for an hour or more 

 collecting insects from the bark of the different evergreens to 

 feed the ever hungry young ones. They always began at the 

 lower part of the tree and gradually worked upward, zig-zagging 

 around the tree to the top, then flying downward to the base of 

 another tree. It would take at least half an hour before seeming 

 to have enough insects to carry to the young. I supposed the 

 birds to be gathering ants and larvae of bark insects. It was the 

 delight of one of this pair of woodpeckers to ^y to a certain fir 

 tree and have a pair of Louisiana tanagers {Piranga ludoviciand) 

 chase it around the tree. I have no doubt but that the tanagers 

 had a nest in the tree. While camped in the grove I saw five of 

 these tanagers. 



I noticed only two of the red-breasted sapsucker iSphyrapicus 

 ruber). One I watched every morning from my tent fly to the 

 top of a tall burnt tree and rap its roll-call as a kind of 

 warning may be to the flying insects. It would then sail out 

 like a flycatcher, catch an insect, and return to the burnt tree- 

 top. Its movements were very graceful and regular. As it 

 dipped or circled around for this or that insect the sunlight 

 catching on the red breast lit it up like a patch of flame. 



The Californian woodpecker {Alelanerpes fonnicivorics bairdi) 

 was not uncommon. Harris' woodpecker {^Dry abates villosus 

 hatrissii) was the only other species of Picidae noted in the 

 grove besides the red-shafted flicker {Colaptes cafer). 



The blue-fronted jay {Cyanocitta stelleri frontalis) was twice 

 seen, but was very shy and quiet, no doubt nesting. 



The California purple finch {Carpodacus purpureiis californi- 

 ciis) was observed several times, but had not paired off. 



Juncos {/icnco hyemalis thurberi) were in pairs, but not 

 common. 



One thick-billed sparrow [Passerella iliaca megarhyncha) was 

 noted, seeming to have only arrived, as I found them common 

 later above the Yosemite Vallev. 



