PICID.^ — THE WOODPECKERS — COLAPTES. 



407 



I have found this species quite common near New Ahnaden, but not else- 

 Avhere in the Coast Eange southward, during summer. They are, however, 

 numerous in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and doubtless also in the 

 more northern Coast Eange. They occur also on the higher parts of the 

 Sierra, frequenting chietly the coniferous trees, and having very much the 

 same habits and notes as the 3£. formicivorus. They keep much about the 

 higher jjarts of the trees, circling around them in pursuit of insects, and not 

 troubling themselves much to hammer the bark for food. They feed in 

 great part also on fruits, and the flocks of black young, associating together 

 in autumn, nught be taken for something very different from woodpeckers. 

 Their flight is rather slow and flapping, causing them to look like crows at a 

 distance, while they frequently sail in circles around the tree-tops like 

 hawks. In fact, they are less like ordinary woodiDeckers than any other 

 species we have. 



Their nest is burrowed out at a consideralJe height, )jut no description of 

 the eggs has yet been given, though they doubtless resemble those of other 

 woodpeckers. 



Gexus COLAPTES, Swainson. 



Colaptes, Swainson, Zool. Jour. III. Dec. 1827, S.'iS. (Type, C. auratus.) 



Gen. Cii.\r. Bill slender, depressed at tlic base, then compressed. Cnlnien nuieh 

 curved ; gonys straight, both with acute ridges, and coming to (juite a sharp point with 



>kfc\) i%y: ^aSj^. 



C. Mexicanus. 



