228 Birds of Colorado 



on the sides and flanks ; iris dark cherry -red, bill dusky plmnbeous, 

 legs plmnbeous. Length 8-25; wing 5-0; tail 3'25 ; cuhnen 1-15 ; 

 tarsus -OO. 



The female has no yellow, the crown is shining black, sUghtly speckled 

 witli white. 



Distribution. — The Rocky Mountain region from Montana, where 

 it intergrados with P. americanus, south to the Santa Fe mountains of 

 New Mexico. 



The Three-toed Woodpecker is a not uncommon resident in the 

 mountainous portions of Colorado. It very seldom comes down below 

 7,000 feet, and is chiefly a bird of the yellow-pine and spruce zones, 

 from about 8,000 to 11,500 feet both in winter and summer. It has 

 been noticed throughout the mountains from Estes Park (Kellogg) 

 to the Wet Mountains (Lowe) and La Plata co. (Morrison). Warren 

 obtained a specimen on the Divide between the Sapinero and Currecanti 

 creeks in Gunnison co. at 9,350 feet in October, which I have examined; 

 he also took a nest containing two almost fledged young on July 

 27th, 1911, at Buffalo Pass, altitude 10,300 feet ; and there is a pair 

 taken by W. Ferril in the State collection at Denver, the male at 

 Palmer Lake, 7,200 feet, the female at Cumbres in C!onejos co., at 

 10,000 feet. 



Habits. — ^Mrs. Stone found a nest with five young 

 birds near Hancock, at about 10,000 feet, on July 10th, 

 but gives no details. Breninger informed Bendire that 

 he found a nest early in May at the low level of 6,500 

 feet, west of Fort Collins. The site was located in a burnt 

 spruce-stump and contained five eggs. It is most unusual 

 to find either spruces or three-toed Woodpeckers at 

 so low an elevation, and I cannot help thinking that 

 there must be some mistake about this observation. 

 No one else has written on the nidification of this species 

 in Colorado, and it is remarkable that Gale does not 

 mention the bird at all in his notebooks. 



Genus SPHYRAPICUS. 



Bill loss stout than in Dryobates, hardly as long as the head, the 

 lateral ridges extending only about half way along its length ; outer 

 primary vory small ; tail feathers produced and attenuated ; toes four, 

 the outer posterior (fourth) longer than the outer anterior (third) ; 

 plumago with a good deal of yellow and rod. 



