160 BULLETIN 17 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the frequency with \\hich it works down as well as up a trunk, and 

 when one dodges around a tree, in which, by the way, it is unpleas- 

 antly expert, it is as apt to reappear twenty feet below where it was 

 last seen, as above. In searching for food it will often work up and 

 down a favorite tree repeatedly. In all its movements it is quick and 

 active, and gives one the impression of being thoroughly wide awake, 

 which impression the would-be collector is speedily convinced is 

 correct." 



Voice. — Mr. Michael (1935) says: "When the sapsuckers met at 

 the nest site they exchanged greetings in a 'rubber doll' tone of 

 voice. The nasal quaver of notes was remindful of a call often 

 sounded by the red-breasted sapsucker. Another call that was oc- 

 casionally shouted from the tree-tops was shrill and like that of a 

 red-tailed hawk." 



Dr. Elliott Coues (1874) says: "It has an abrupt, explosive out- 

 cry, much like that of other species of Woodpeckers, and also an 

 entirely different call note. This sounds to me like a number of 

 rolling r's, beginning with a gutteral k — k'-r-r-r — each set of rV 

 making a long syllable. This note is leisurely given, and indefinitely 

 repeated, in a very low key." 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) describe the voice as "a weak wheezy 

 whang or vjhethery 



Field marhs. — Such a conspicuously and uniquely colored wood- 

 pecker as the male Williamson's sapsucker should be easily recog- 

 nized; its general appearance is largely black, with a large white 

 patch in the fore part of the wing, and another on the rump and 

 upper tail coverts; the yellow on the under parts is not so easily 

 seen; neither is the red throat. The female appears mainly pale 

 brown, with a white rump, brown head, and barred back and wings. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Mountainous regions of the Western United States and 

 southwestern Canada south to west-central Mexico. 



Breeding range.- — -Williamson's sapsucker breeds north to central 

 Washington (Bumping Lake and probably Dayton) ; and south- 

 western Montana (Missoula, Pipestone Creek, Bridger Creek, and 

 Eed Lodge) . East to Montana (Eed Lodge) ; Wyoming (Yellowstone 

 National Park and Laramie Peak) ; Colorado (Estes Park, Idaho 

 Springs, Breckenridge, El Paso County, and Fort Garland) ; and 

 New Mexico (Carson Forest, Santa Fe Canyon, Las Vegas, and Her- 

 mcsa). South to southern New Mexico (Hermosa) ; Arizona (Tuc- 

 son, Mogollon Mountains, and Fort "V^liipple) ; and southern Cali- 

 fornia (San Jacinto). West to eastern California (San Jacinto, San 

 Bernardino Mountains, Pyramid Peak, Tuolumne County, Echo 



