WOODPECKERS 



159 



the feathers (except on upper portion) tipijcd with 

 pale gray, the foreneck similar, but with much broader 

 pale gray tips ; chest and a broad, sluirt^ly drfiiird lollar 

 around hindncck, light silvery yray : breast, abdomen, 

 sides, and greater part of flanks light crimson, inter- 

 mixed (in fine longitudinal lines or streaks) with pale 

 silvery gray or white, especially on breast, where the 

 reddish color is paler and less strongly contrasted with 

 the pale gray of the chest ; under surface of wings and 

 tail, uniform black, faintly glossed with bronzy green- 

 ish, at least on under wing-coverts ; bill, dull black or 

 dusky ; iris, brown. 



Lewis's Woodpecker was one of the birds 

 discovered on the Lewis and Clark expedition 

 .and was named in honor of Lewis. In various 

 and interesting respects, he is a decidedly un- 

 woodpecker-like Woodpecker. To begin with, 

 instead of galloping through the air in the undu- 

 latory flight of most of his tribe, he is likely 

 to proceed by regular and rather heavy wing- 

 beats, resembling those of the Crow. (On the 

 Pacific coast he is called the Crow Woodpecker.) 

 Again, instead of alighting right-sidc-up-with- 

 care on the side of a perpendicular tree-trunk or 

 limb, he is likely to land crosswise, on a hori- 

 zontal limb, like any perching bird. Furthermore, 

 though two or three of his cousins catch flies on 

 the wing, this bird goes on regular aerial cruises 

 after the insects, sailing around, for several min- 

 utes at a time, or sometimes darting straight 

 upward high above the tree-tops, and apparently 

 making many captures before returning to his 

 perch. 



Perhaps as a result of these habits the bird 

 seems to forget what he is, a good deal of the 

 time, and does comparatively little of the ham- 

 mering work a real Woodpecker is expected to 

 do. Remembering this we are not surprised to 

 learn that he seldom, if ever, builds, or rather 

 digs, his own house, but occupies the deserted 

 homes of other members of his tribe, or even 

 natural cavities in trees, the last a performance 

 which must make his relatives wag their heads 

 and mutter remarks about degeneracy. 



The coinmon Flicker is sometimes seen on 

 the ground where he is most likely to be engaged 

 in i)robing ant-hills with his long bill, but Lewis's 

 Woodpecker feeds freely on the ground, where 

 he captures crickets, beetles, grasshoppers and 

 various other insects. In this feeding, presum- 

 ably he finds especially convenient one of his 

 physical pecttliarities, which is his ability to raise 

 his tipper mandible for about a quarter of an 

 inch without moving his jaws. 



Again, this species seems to have developed in 

 some degree the hoarding trait which is so 



Nest and Eggs.— .Vest : Usually in a natural tree- 

 cavity, or in the deserted hole of some other bird. 

 lu;(;s : 6 or 7, white. 



Distribution. — Western North America, from south- 

 ern British Columbia and southern Alberta, south to 

 southern .Arizona and New Mexico and Western Texas; 

 west to interior valleys and coast ranges of California; 

 east (regularly) to Black Hills of South Dakota, west- 

 ern Nebraska, western Kansas, eastern Colorado, etc.; 

 casually to eastern Kansas and Oklahoma ; in winter 

 to southern California, western Texas, and northern 

 Mexico. 



Strongly marked in the Ant-eating Woodpecker, 

 for he has been observed stuffing acorns, after 

 having shelled them, into natural cavities in 

 Cottonwood trees. Examination of some of 

 these caches showed that they were mere pockets, 

 but that they had been jammed full to their 

 capacity of five or six acorns. Moreover, Mrs. 

 Fanny Hardy Eckstorm, in her book about 

 Woodpeckers, records the interesting and per- 

 haps significant observation that in the San 

 Bernardino Mountains of California this bird 

 has been seen to drive the California Wood- 

 pecker away from a tree whose bark he had 

 perforated for storing acorns, and attempt, some- 

 what clumsily, to do the storing act himself in 

 the holes which the other bird had dug. The pos- 

 sible significance of this hoarding performance 

 is that it may mark the beginning of a trait which 

 hereafter will become a fixed characteristic. 



Another un-woodpecker-like habit of this 

 species is that of gathering in large flocks, like 

 Starlings, especially in the mating season. 

 Though at other times the bird is generally very 

 quiet, in this flocking period he is quite noisy, 

 uttering frequently an tmmusical and rather 

 rasping call. 



While Lewis's Woodpecker eats some use- 

 ful beetles probably he does no serious harm 

 in this way. ?Iis vegetable food amounts to 

 over 60 per cent, of his entire food for the year. 

 He doesn't seem to care much for grain and is 

 not likely to do any harm in that direction. How- 

 ever, he has a pronounced taste for fruit. His 

 shy habits force him to satisfy its craving by 

 wild species; he does not visit the orchard and 

 ctiltivated areas tinless these places are sittiated 

 in lonelv spots. Mr. ^^^illiam L. Finley reports 

 that during cherry season he has often seen this 

 bird carrying cherries to its young in the nest, 

 just as the Robin does ; the parent, as a rule, 

 carried the cherry by the stem. (MS.) 



An incident of interest is reported from one 

 of the northwestern States. On one side of the 

 river was a large area of wild land and directly 



