Woodpecker WESTERN BIRDS 



south as southern California, east to eastern Oregon, 

 western Idaho, and western Nevada. 



This white-headed bird is rather more quiet than most 

 of his family, seeming to use his bill as a crow-bar to 

 pry off bark, rather than to pound and dig, as do most 

 Woodpeckers. Like others of the smaller members of the 

 family, he hunts on branches as well as tree trunks, goes 

 up or easily backs down, and explores the under sides of 

 limbs. About half the animal food he consumes consists 

 of ants, and he is especially fond of the seeds of pines, 

 which constitute about half his food. 



Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey tells us that while the 

 bird is strikingly conspicuous while in flight, when forag- 

 ing over a tree trunk he so blends with the lights and 

 shadows that he is hard to locate. Dr. Merriam also 

 tells of his experience with the birds at Fort Klamath. 

 He says: "There the pines have stubs of branches pro- 

 jecting an inch or two from the trunk which, lit by the 

 sun, appear white themselves and cast a black shadow. 

 In winter when a little snow has lodged on these stubs 

 the resemblance is still greater, often leading one to 

 mistake a stub for a bird." 



The first one of these birds I ever saw was one May 

 when I visited the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias 

 in Mariposa County a few miles from the Yosemite 

 National Park. As I gazed up at one of these enormous 

 trees I saw a very glossy black bird whose throat and 

 top of head were white, but whose red patch on back of 

 neck was so conspicuous that at first I feared it could 

 not be the White-head that I was looking at. It worked 

 around on the bark but was so high up that, even through 

 the glass, it did not look its size. I longed to have it 

 come lower for a closer inspection. Still I was thankful 

 for this view of this interesting white-headed bird. 



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