1 62 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



rear portion of outer web, sometimes with one or more 

 similar spots or bars on subterminal portion of inner 

 web; sides of head, sides of neck, chest, breast, and 

 sides, plain pale bufify-grayish, fading into paler (some- 

 times dull whitish) on chin, front portion of cheeks, 

 and in front of eyes and passing into light yellow on 

 abdomen ; flanks and under tail-coverts, white, spotted 

 or barred with black, the markings usually of V-shaped 

 form; bill, dull black or slate-black. Adult Female: 

 Similar to the adult male, but without any red on head, 



the back of the head and the whole crown, gray, the 

 color fading from rather deep gray on the back of the 

 head to pale huffy grayish or dull whitish on forehead, 

 the yellow of hindneck rather paler than in male and, 

 usually at least, without orange tinge, and yellow of 

 abdomen paler, as well as more restricted. 



Nest and Eggs.— Nest: Usually in mesquites, 

 pecans, oaks, or telegraph poles. Eggs : 4 to 7, white. 



Distribution. — Central northern Texas, south to 

 Valley of Mexico. 



Similar in habits to the Red-bellied Wood- 

 pecker is the Golden- fronted Woodpecker of 

 Texas and northern Mexico. Along the Rio 

 Grande the birds have been observed to make 

 nesting holes most often in mesquite. Farther 

 up in the State 'the practice of boring holes in 

 the telegraph poles has become in many cases a 

 serious matter as, not content with one nesting 

 hole a year, each pair will often dig out two or 

 more holes. Yet farther south on the mesquite 

 prairies the birds are known to use one nesting 



hole year after year. Sometimes these Wood- 

 peckers will make their home in a bird-box near 

 a house. 



The Golden-fronts are noisy and conspicuous 

 birds. They do not recognize man as an enemy, 

 and their lack of fear has cost many of them 

 their lives to fill pot-pies. 



The Golden-fronted Woodpecker shows a de- 

 cided taste for grasshoppers which make up half 

 of its animal food. Its vegetable diet is com- 

 posed almost entirely of small fruits or berries. 



GILA WOODPECKER 

 Centurus uropygialis Baird 



A. O. U. Number 411 



Other Name. — Saguaro Woodpecker. 



General Description. — Length, 9 inches. Head and 

 under parts, drab ; upper parts, black and white. 



Color. — Adult Male: Head, neck, and most of 

 under parts plain drab, darkest on hindneck, palest on 

 chin, forehead, and nasal tufts; crown with a broad 

 center patch of bright scarlet vermilion ; back, shoulders, 

 and upper rump, regularly, sharply, and rather broadly 

 barred with black' and zt'hite, the white bars, which are 

 usually tinged with pale brownish-buffy, are usually 

 slightly narrower than the black ones ; lower rump and 

 upper tail-coverts white, barred (sometimes narrowly) 

 with black, those on upper tail-coverts usually V- or 

 brace-shaped; tail, black, the inner web of middle pair 

 of feathers white (except terminally) broadly barred 

 with black, the outer web with a wedge-shaped streak 

 of white, extending half way down, the outermost 

 pair crossed for most of their length by broad, inter- 

 rupted, bars of white, the next pair with similar mark- 

 ings on extremities ; wings, black, the coverts and 



secondaries barred with pure white (the bars narrower 

 on coverts, much broader on secondaries), the prima- 

 ries with a large, broken, patch of white on sub-basal 

 portion of outer webs, the inner c|uills with a terminal 

 spot or edging of white; abdomen, light saffron-yellow ; 

 flanks and under tail-coverts, dull white or yellowish- 

 white, barred with black, the bars usually somewhat 

 V-shaped, at least on coverts ; bill, dull black or slate- 

 black. Adult Female : Similar to the adult male but 

 no red spot on crozvn, which is wholly li.ght drab (like 

 general color of head, neck, and under parts), and 

 yellow of abdomen paler and more restricted. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Generally in the giant 

 cactus, but sometimes in a Cottonwood, a sycamore, or 

 a mesquite. Eggs ; 3 to 5, white. 



Distribution. — From the Colorado valley in south- 

 eastern California and the extreme southeastern corner 

 of Nevada east through southern Arizona and south- 

 western New Mexico, and south through Lower Cali- 

 fornia and western Mexico. 



The peculiarity of the Gila Woodpecker is its 

 apparent preference for the stem of the giant 

 cactus as a home-site. Literal-minded persons 



may, therefore, contend that to this extent the 

 bird isn't a \\'oodpecker at all, since the cactus 

 plant does not produce wood. To which it may 



