NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER 25 



Iowa : 8 records, April 21 to May 15. 

 Labrador : 5 records, May 26 to 30. 



Massachusetts: 17 records, May 1 to June 5; 9 records, May 10 

 to 19. 



Ontario : 8 records. May 6 to June 16. 



DRYOBATES VILLOSUS SEPTENTRIONALIS (Nuttall) 

 NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER 



HABITS 



This large northern race of the hairy woodpecker inhabits the 

 Canadian Zone of northern North America, north almost to the limit 

 of trees, from central Alaska and northern Canada southward. In 

 the eastern portions of southern Canada it intergrades with typical 

 villosus, and in northwestern Montana with monticola, where the 

 ranges of these races meet. Specimens have been taken as far north 

 as Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie Kiver, in latitude 62° N., and 

 at Fort Reliance, on the upper Yukon River, Alaska, in about lati- 

 tude 66° N. It may occur as a straggler farther north, where it can 

 find sufficient tree growth, but it is said to be rare north of latitude 

 56° N., and apparently it does not reach the Arctic coast or the coast 

 of Bering Sea. It is a decidedly larger bird than typical villosus, 

 the white markings average rather larger, and the white is purer. 

 In the southern portion of its range, where it begins to intergrade 

 with villosus, these characters are, of course, less pronounced and 

 many individuals are difficult to name. 



Living in a region over much of which coniferous forests pre- 

 dominate, this woodpecker frequents and breeds in this type of 

 forest. Winton and Donald Weydemeyer (1928) say that it is an 

 abundant permanent resident in Lincoln County, Mont., where it 

 intergrades with monticola. They also say: 



In the valleys it is most numerous, during summer, in forests containing a 

 large percentage stand of western larch (Larix occidentalis) . The next trees 

 in attractiveness seem to be Douglas fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolia), western yel- 

 low pine {Finns ponderosa) , and Engelmann spruce {Picea engelmanni), in 

 the order named. In the Hudsonian zone it frequents trees of white-bark pine 

 {Pinus alUcaitlis) and alpine larch {Larix hjaUii). The species is noticeably 

 rare or absent in forests containing nearly pure stands of western white pine 

 {Pinus monticola), arborvitae (Thuja plicata), or lodgepole pine {Pinus con- 

 torta), except where the woods have been logged or injured by fire. 



Nesting. — The same observers say : "In Lincoln County this species 

 uses a wide variety of nesting sites. Of eight nests included in our 

 records, three were in live aspens; one in a live cottonwood; one in 

 a live larch; one in a dead larch, one in a dead Douglas fir; and 

 one in a woodpecker nesting box." 



90801—39 3 



