NORTHERN WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER 97 



Rita Mountains, Rincon Mountains Pantano, and Canada del Oro). 



The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been 

 divided into two geographic races, the true Arizona woodpecker 

 (Z>. a. arizonae), occupying the northern part of the area south to 

 northwestern Durango, and the Colima woodpecker {D. a. frater- 

 culus), occupying the rest of the range in Mexico. 



Egg dates. — Arizona : 8 records, April 20 to May 16. 



DRYOBATES ALBOLARVATUS ALBOLARVATUS (Cassin) 



NORTHERN V/HITE-HEADED WOODPECKER 



Plates 13, 14 



liAliiTS 



The northern race of the white-headed woodpecker is found in the 

 Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, from Washington to Kern 

 County, Calif., and eastward into western Idaho and western Nevada. 



It is a bird of the pine and fir forests in the mountains, ranging 

 from 4,000 to 9,000 feet during the breeding season, but coming down 

 to lower levels in winter. W. L. Dawson (1923) says: "This wood- 

 pecker is essentially a pine-loving species and is, therefore, nearly 

 confined to the slopes of the Sierras and the Transition zones of the 

 southern ranges. Only in winter does it appear at lower levels, and 

 then rarely beyond the pale of the yellow pine. So close is this 

 devotion of bird to tree that tlie woodpecker's feathers are almost 

 always smeared with pine pitch ; and I have found eggs dotted with 

 pitch and soiled to blackness by contact with the sitting bird." 



Clarence F. Smith writes to me that he found this woodpecker 

 very common around a camp where he was located from June 25 to 

 July 10, 1935, in Tuolumne County, Calif., in the Transition Zone 

 at an elevation of about 4,000 feet. The camp was at one time a limi- 

 bering mill, and there was much dead standing timber nearby. Most 

 of the trees were Pinus yoiiderosa and P'mus lamhertiana. 



Nesting. — The same observer says in his notes: "All the nests ob- 

 served, except one in a Querous kelloggi, were in dead standing stumps 

 of the pines. The stumps were mostly some 12 to 15 feet in height, 

 and the nests averaged about 8 feet above ground, with an approxi- 

 mate minimum of 6 feet. These nests may not represent a typical 

 situation, as they were undoubtedly the ones that were most obvious 

 to casual observation. Nests in higher locations would more easily 

 escape notice. We had at least 8 nests within a half-mile radius of 

 camp headquarters, and the birds were one of the commonest species 

 in the vicinity. None of the nests opened contained any lining but 

 chips of wood, and the cavities were about 14 inches in depth. None 

 of the nest trees were less than 2 feet in diameter at the point where 

 the nest was located. Many of the stumps had several holes in them. 



