GOLDEN-FRONTED WOODPECKER 249 



Field marks. — The golden-fronted woodpecker might easily be con- 

 fused with the red-bellied woodpecker, for they are often found in 

 the same general region, and both have the back and wings barred 

 with black and white; but all the lower part of the rump is white, 

 instead of barred, in the golden-fronted and the gray under parts 

 are tinged with yellow, instead of red; the male red-bellied has 

 the whole upper part of the head, from forehead to hind neck, 

 bright scarlet, and the female has an extensive patch of red on the 

 posterior half of the upper head; whereas the male golden-fronted 

 has a much smaller patch of red on the crown, a yellow forehead, 

 and an orange-yellow band on the hind neck ; and the female golden- 

 fronted has no red on the head at all. The voice is said to be more 

 distinctive than the color pattern. 



Enemies. — Mr. Quillin writes to me: "While this species is still 

 fairly abundant in southern Texas, it was much more plentiful ten 

 or more years ago. Because of the damage the birds wrought to tele- 

 phone and telegraph poles, the various concerns owning such prop- 

 erty secured passage of a law placing all woodpeckers on the un- 

 protected list. This done, they gave section crews of the railroads 

 shotguns, and the killing was on in earnest. Hunters and others 

 helped, and the result has been a marked decrease in the ranks of 

 this species. The killing, or controlling still continues. However, 

 pressure is now being brought to place the birds back on the pro- 

 tected list, and this will be done sooner or later. There is no getting 

 around the fact that the birds did cause considerable damage. In 

 this species we have a woodpecker which for centuries had been 

 pecking into hard mesquite trees. Along came the soft pine poles 

 and these same birds immediately literally ate them up. I have 

 seen 16 holes, three of which were deep enough for nesting sites, 

 in one small pole, not over 10 inches in diameter." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North-central Texas south to Central Mexico; nonmi- 

 gratory. 



The golden-fronted woodpecker ranges north to central Texas 

 (San Angelo and Dallas). East to Texas (Dallas, Giddings, Cuero, 

 Corpus Christi, and Brownsville) ; Tamaulipas (Matamoros, San 

 Fernando, Ciudad Victoria, and Tampico) ; southeastern San Luis 

 Potosi (Valles) ; Hidalgo (Ixmiquilipam and Tula) ; and the Federal 

 District of Mexico (near Mexico City). South to the Federal Dis- 

 trict of Mexico (near Mexico City) ; Michoacan (Querendero, INIore- 

 lia, and Patzcuaro) ; and Jalisco (Ocotlan and Guadalajara). West 

 to Jalisco (Guadalajara) ; Zacatecas (Calvillo, Aguas Calientes, and 

 Chicalote) ; northwestern Durango (Boquilla, Sestin, and Rosario) ; 



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