ARIZONA WOODPECKER 95 



other members of the Dryohates group. It apparently feeds mainly 

 on insects and their larvae, but to some extent on fruits and acorns. 

 Mr. Henshaw (1875) says of its feeding habits: "Wlien in pursuit of 

 food, they almost always alighted near the base of the trees, gradu- 

 ally ascending, and maldng their way along the smaller limbs, and 

 even out among the foliage, appearing to prefer to secure their food 

 by a careful search rather than by the hard labor of cutting into the 

 wood in the way the hairy woodpecker employs its strength." 

 Behavior. — The same observer says of their habits : 



Here they appeared to be perfectly at home, climbing over the trunks of 

 the oaks with the same ease and rapidity of movement that distinguish the 

 motions of the do-wny or hairy woodpeclver ; though their habits, in so far 

 as they are at all peculiar, are, perhaps, best comparable to those of the 

 red-cockaded woodpecker of the South (P. borealis), especially their custom 

 of moving about in small companies of from five to fifteen, though they were 

 occasionally found singly or in pairs. * * * 



I found them at all times rather shy, and gifted with very little of that 

 prying curiosity which is seen in some of the better known species of this 

 family; and if by chance I surprised a band feeding among the low trees, a 

 sharp warning note, from' some member more watchful than the rest, com- 

 municated alarm to the whole assembly, when they took flight immediately, 

 showing great dexterity in dodging behind trunks and limbs, and making good 

 their retreat by short flights from one tree to another till they were out of 

 sight. 



In the TVhetstone Mountains, Ariz., Austin Paul Smith (1908) 

 observed a female Arizona woodpecker — 



working on an oak-trunk, not three feet above the base ; while the trees around 

 harbored unnumbered Bridled Tits (Baeolaphus tvollwcberi) , Lead-colored Bush- 

 tits (Psaltriparus plumbeus) and Rocky Mountain Nuthatches {Sitta caro- 

 Unensis nelsoni). Very often did I run across a similar assemblage, but rarely 

 were there more than one or two Arizona Woodpeckers in it. There is no 

 recollection at hand, of noting above four adult woodpeckers of this species in 

 view at once; more likely to chance upon a solitary individual than a pair at 

 any time. The noisiest occasion I can accredit to the species occurred one 

 spring day when two adult females were located, i^erched upon a horizontal 

 limb of a madrona, facing each other, and emitting a continuous volume of 

 characteristic woodpecker notes, the eifect being heightened by that peculiar 

 muscular movement which accompanies the vocal utterances of some Pici. 

 The continuity was possible by a relay system; and so engrossed were the 

 participants, that I approached to directly under the limb and stood there at 

 least two minutes, without being detected. 



F. H. Fowler (1903) writes: 



The Arizona woodpecker {Dryohates arizonae) is, outside of the alpine three- 

 toed and pileated, the most interesting member of the woodpecker family, 

 that I have ever seen. So far as I have noted, the species is never common, 

 never noisy, and never at rest. I have not found it except in live-oak woods, 

 and at Fort Huachuca ; on a good field day I used to see about six on an average. 

 Not even the chickadees are as active as this little woodpecker. He will alight 

 on the mam trunk of the tree, or generally one of the largest limbs, and 



