FAMILY PicidcB 



of the wood-borers that destroy them. In 

 common with many of the family it enjoys 

 drumming on some resonant limb when not 

 otherwise engaged in seeking its food. 



The call note of the Harris woodpecker is a 

 sharp "peek, or eek, which is usually answered 

 by its mate from some other part of the woods. 

 Its nest is dug in some dead tree from twenty 

 to fifty feet from the ground. 



Gairdner woodpecker, Dryohates pubes- 

 cens gairdner I. 7.00 



Distribution: Humid northwest coast dis- 

 trict from southern British Columbia south 

 through Washington and Oregon to northern 

 California. Two other closely allied varie- 

 ties are the Batchelder woodpecker of the 

 Rocky Mountain region west to eastern 

 Washington and Oregon and California, and 

 the willow woodpecker of southern California. 



The Gairdner woodpecker is a friendly 

 little fellow that comes boldly into the door- 

 yard to make a survey of the tree trunks, or 

 to take an occasional mouthful of fruit from 

 dogwood or wild cherry. It goes rapidly up 

 a tree, making side excursions to all of the 

 big limbs and then flies on to the next tree in 

 a nervous, restless manner to repeat the per- 

 formance. 



122 



