CARDON WOODPECKER 257 



the range lying in the United States, and this race also is the one found 

 in the western mainland of Mexico. The cardon woodpecker {G. u. 

 cardonensis) is found in the northern part of Baja California south 

 to about latitude 28° N. Brewster's woodpecker {G. u. hrewsteri) 

 occupies the cape district of Baja California north to San Ignacio and 

 including also Santa Margarita Island. 



Egg dates. — Arizona: 26 records, April 7 to May 30; 13 records. 

 May 5 to 25, indicating the heiglit of the season, 



Baja California: 10 records, April 21 to June 2. 



CENTURUS UROPYGIALIS CARDONENSIS Grinnell 

 CARDON WOODPECKER 



HABITS 



In describing and naming this race, Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1927a) 



says: 



In its main characters similar to Centurus uropygialis uropygialis, but gen- 

 eral coloration much darker: whole head (except for red patch on crown) and 

 anterior lower surface strongly tinged with snuff brown rather than pale drab ; 

 and white barring on closed wings, tail, dorsum, rump, flanks, and lower tail 

 coverts, narrower, leaving the black-barring correspondingly broader. Similar 

 to C. u. hre^vsteri, but size larger, and coloration darker, in the same respects 

 though not to quite so great a degree as shown in comparison with uropygialis. 

 In other words, the new form differs from both the previously known races in 

 the deeper brown tinge of the head and lower surface and in the greater degree 

 of predominance of black over white in the barring. 



He says of its range : "So far as now known, only the giant cactus 

 (cardon) association in the northern section of the Lower Cali- 

 fornian peninsula, from about latitude 30° to latitude 31°. Life- 

 zone, Lower Sonoran." The 1931 Check-list extends the range north- 

 ward "along the western rim of the Colorado Desert to about 

 latitude 32°." 



A. W. Anthony (1895a) says of the haunts of this woodpecker 

 in Baja California: "The range of this species along the Pacific 

 slope is exactly coextensive with that of Cereus pringlei, becoming 

 common with that cactus a short distance below Rosario and seldom 

 if ever being seen at any distance from the shelter of its mighty 

 branches. At the mission, where the cardons were very large and 

 abundant, to within a short distance of the mesquite thickets, this 

 Woodpecker delighted in making frequent forays into the lesser 

 growth, spending hours in hammering on the mesquite trunks and 

 hunting through their branches, always beating a precipitate retreat 

 to the cactus on the hillsides above at the first sign of danger." 



I can find nothing further of consequence published on the habits 

 of the cardon woodpecker, which doubtless do not differ materially 

 from those of its Arizona relative. 



