86 BULLETIN 17 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



sides and flanks; the plumage is softer and the markings are not so 

 clearly defined as in the adult. Just how long this plumage is worn 

 I have not been able to determine, but July birds show signs of body 

 molt and an increasing amount of the clear black streaks of the adult 

 plumage on the sides and flanks. Probably a plumage that is prac- 

 tically adult is assumed by the first fall at the latest. Adults appar- 

 ently have a complete annual molt in summer, mainly in August. 



Food. — The cactus woodpecker lives mainl}^ on the larvae of wood- 

 boring beetles, which it gleans from the trunks and branches of trees. 

 It also eats the larvae of the coddling moth and other Lepidoptera, 

 ants, caterpillai^, and cotton worms. It usually forages at low ele- 

 vations on small trees, shrubs, and various cacti and is often seen 

 feeding on the ground. Major Bendire (1895) says that this wood- 

 pecker, "like several other species, is very fond of the ripe figlike 

 fruit of the giant cactus, and I have met it more than once in 

 Sahuarito Pass, Arizona, eating it on the ground." 



Voice. — Ralph Hoffmann (1927) compares the notes of the cactus 

 woodpecker with those of the downy woodpecker and says that 

 "the common notes are a single high-pitched tschik or a longer rat- 

 tling call with a slight fall toward the end. It often calls as it 

 flies, and like other woodpeckers drums in spring on dry limbs." 

 Dawson (1923) refers to the notes as "his pUnJc, plink, and his long 

 rolling chirrup." 



Field marks. — A small woodpecker with the upper parts distinctly 

 and extensively barred with black and white is either one of the 

 races of Dryohates scalaris., commonly called ladderbacks, or Dryo- 

 hates nuttalli. These two species are very much alike in superficial 

 appearance and might be easily confused; but fortunately their 

 ranges do not overlap, except to a slight extent in some of the moun- 

 tain passes of southeastern California. Mr. Dawson (1923) says that 

 the cactus woodpecker "is browner above, more strikingly, heavily, 

 and numerously barred, with less of black on sides of head, and red 

 (of adult male) pervading crown as well as nape." 



Winter. — W. E. D. Scott (1886) says that these woodpeckers "are 

 at times gregarious. I particularly noticed this in December, 1885, 

 when I frequently met the species in flocks of from four to a dozen, on 

 the plains at an altitude of 3,000 feet." 



DRYOBATES SCALARIS EREMICUS Oberholser 



SAN FERNANDO WOODPECKER 

 HABITS 



This race of ladder-backed woodpeckers occupies the northern 

 half of Baja California, north of the range of Dryohates scalaris 

 luca^anus, \\'\i\\ w^hich it intergrades about midway the peninsular. 

 It is described by Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1911b) as "similar to Dryo- 



