518 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Outermost tail- Outermost tail- 

 feather of Pictis feather of Picus 

 Sitdaris. ttuUalli. 



Habits. This species belongs to our soutliern anrl southwestern fauna, 

 entering our borders from i\Ie-\ico, occurring from tlie valley of the Eio 

 Grande to Southeastern California, and the slopes of 

 the liocky Mountains south ol' the ;^5th parallel. 

 It is found throughout Mexico to Yucatan and Gua- 

 temala. 



Dr. Samuel Cabot obtained a single specimen of 

 this bird at Yucatan, which he described under tlie 

 name of P. parvus, in tlie Boston Journal of Natural 

 History, V, p. 92. It was procui-ed early in Decem- 

 ber, 1841, in the neighViorhood of Ticul, Yucatan. 

 Dr. Kennerly considered it a uot uncommon species 

 in tlie vicinity of Boca (irande ; especially wherever 

 there were large tree.s. The same naturalist, in his 

 riei)ort on the l)irds of Lieutenant Whipple's exjiedi- 

 tion, states that he very often saw this bird near 

 San Antonio, Texas, as well as during the inarch 

 several hundred miles west of that place, but that, 

 after leaving the Eio Grande, he did not meet with it until he reached the 

 head-waters of Bill Williams Fork. From thence to the Great Colorado 

 Pliver he saw it frequently, ^\■herever there was any timber ; but it was 

 very shy, alighting on the tops of the leafless cotton-wood trees, and keep- 

 ing a vigilant lookout. 



Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds of Lieutenant J. G. Parke's 

 expedition, states that he oliserved this Woodpecker in the southernmost 

 portion of California, and I'ound it more and more abundant as he advanced 

 towards Te.xas, where it was quite common. Tlie same naturalist, in his 

 Eeport on the birds of Lieutenant Williamson's expedition, remarks that he 

 procured this bird first at Vallicita, but found it abounding iu the -woods 

 about Fort Yuma. He considered the species as new to the California 

 fauna, though frequently seen in Texas, several of the expeditious having 

 collected it. 



Dr. Woodhouse, in his Eeport on the birds of Sitgreaves's expedition to 

 the Zuni and the Colorado speaks of finding this beautiful little Woodpecker 

 abundant in Texas, east of the Pecos Eiver During his stay in San An- 

 tonio and its vicinity, he became quite familiar with it. It was to be seen, 

 at all times, flying from tree to tree, and lighting on the trunk of the mes- 

 quites (Ali/io-olua), closely searching for its insect-food. In its habits and 

 notes, he states, it much resembles the common Hairj- Woodpecker. Dr. 

 Woodhouse elsewhere remarks that he did not meet with this bird west of 

 the Eio San Pedro, in Texas. In regard to its breeding-habits, so far as I am 

 aware, they are inferred rather than known. It is quite probable they are 

 not unlike those of the Picus jiuho^ccns, which it so closely resembles. The 

 eggs in the coUectiou of the Smithsonian were obtained with the collections 



