CABANIS'S WOODPECKER 33 



used. At first the bird, a male, would fly to a nearby tree when I 

 rapped on the stub, but soon it contented itself with just coming to the 

 opening. One time, while I was in plain sight of the stub, a western 

 pileated woodpecker alighted at the cavity and proceeded to open it 

 up, which it did clear to the bottom in less than three minutes. It had 

 taken the Harris about a week to dig it out." 



Dawson and Bowles (1909) say: "The Harris woodpecker visits the 

 winter troupes only in a patronizing way. He is far too restless and 

 independent to be counted a constant member of any little gossip club, 

 and, except briefly during the mating season and in the family circle, 

 he is rarely to be seen in the company of his own kind." 



DRYOBATES VILLOSUS HYLOSCOPUS Cabanis and Heine 



CABANIS'S WOODPECKER 



HABITS 



The hairy woodpeckers of the coast district of California from 

 Mendocino County southward, the mountains of southern California, 

 and the southern Sierra Nevada, as far east as White Mountains of 

 California, are now known by the above name. This race is some- 

 what smaller than harrisi and decidedly smaller than orius, its 

 neighboring races to the northward ; its under parts are much lighter 

 colored than in harrisi; these parts are described by Kidgway (1914) 

 as "dull grayish or brownish white or pale drab-grayish or buffy 

 grayish." This and the Sierra woodpecker (orius) seem to form 

 comiecting links between the dark-breasted harrisi and the white- 

 breasted Rocky Mountain forms, monticola and leucothorectis., both 

 of which are decidedly larger also. 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) says of the distribution of this wood- 

 pecker in the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California: 

 "Tliis was the most widely distributed species of woodpecker in the 

 region, occurring throughout the timbered portions, irrespective of 

 zones. It was common from Santa Ana Canon to the summit of 

 Sugarloaf, 9,800 feet, and nearly to timber line on San Gorgonio 

 peak. On the desert side the species was noted as low as Cactus 

 Flat, 6,000 feet, where one was seen in some golden oaks in a ravine, 

 August 16, 1905." 



Courtship. — The drumming of woodpeckers in the spring on some 

 resonant limb or tree trunk is an important part of the courtship 

 urge, as a warning to any rival, or as a call to a possible mate. 

 Dr. Grinnell (1908) shows how the manner of drumming may also 

 serve as a recognition call; he says: "The resonant rattling drum 

 identified this species from any other of this region. Near Dry lake, 

 9,000 feet altitude, dead tamarack pines were selected for this pur- 



