438 THE NORTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



OVER and beyond the interest of life, wliich is always the greatest cliarm 

 of an animal, be it bird or snail, a curious interest attaches to many creatures 

 tin^u some accident of disco\"er}', some misapprehension, or neglect, or absurd 

 surprise, — the historical interest, humanly considered. Now the amusing 

 thing about ^\'illiamson Sapsuckers, male and female, is that ages after God 

 had joined them together man snatched them rudely asunder, thrusting Mr. 

 Williamson into one pigeon-hole, labeled ivi/liamsoiiii, and Mrs. Williamson — 

 under a vernacular alias of Brown-headed Woodpecker — since she was indis- 

 creet enough to flit nut ali>ne one day, into another, labeled Picas thyroideiis. 

 This legal crime, which was committed in the probate court of ornithological 

 inexperience in 1853 and 1857, was not corrected until 1873, when Mr. Hen- 

 shaw caught a pair of these really very dissimilar birds innocently conspiring 

 to set the decree of a blundering divorce court at naught. 



Of the occurrence of this species in Washington, there is little lo Ije said. 

 There is a record for British Columbia, Similikameen, June, 1882, by R. V. 

 Gritfin, whence Bendire evidently assumes its presence along the eastern slope 

 of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. I am aware of only one published 

 instance'"', recording a female narrowly observed by myself at the Yakima 

 Soda Springs, on August 9, 1899. Besides that we have obtained momentary 

 glimpses of others in the Stehekin Valley in three successive seasons, 1906- 

 1908. 



Bendire notes that these Sapsuckers are like the other species in habit, 

 except that they are not at all confined to deciduous trees, and that they are 

 found (in Oregon, California, and Colorado) at the higher levels, from 5000 

 feet up. So far, we have found them in Washington only at altitudes of 

 1000 to 1500 feet. 



No. 175. 



NORTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



A. O. U. No. 405a. PhlcEotomus pileatus abieticola (Bangs). 



Synonyms. — LoGcocK. CocK-oF-THE-^^'ooDs. Bl.-\ck Woodcock. 



Description. — Adult male: General plumage sooty black, lusterless save on 

 wings and back ; whole top of head and lengthened crest bright red ; red malar 

 stripes changing to black behind, and separating white spaces ; chin and upper 

 throat white : also a white stripe extending from nostrils and below eye to nape, 

 and produced downward and backward to shoulder ; narrow white stripe over and 

 behind eye; lining and edge of wing, and a large spot (nearly concealed ) at base 

 of ]iriinaries, white: black feathers of sides sparingly white-tipped: bill dark 

 plumbeous above, lighter below, save at tip : feet black. In some specimens the 



a. The Wilson Bulletin, No. 39, June, 1902, p. 6z- 



