CAPE GILDED FLICKER 299 



on the sides of the body, and on the chest surrounding the big black bar, there 

 is little hint of the bright vinaceous tinting that characterizes collaris from 

 throughout upper California. Weathering of the plumage toward spring tends 

 to rob martirensis of its most characteristic color tones, especially on the top 

 of the head which then becomes warmer brown, but not, however, to the degree 

 of brightness seen in rttfipileus. The latter is even browner than collaris. 



He gives, as its range: "Sierra San Pedro Martir (San Jose, 2,500 

 feet, near La Grulla at 7,200 feet, and near Vallecitos at 7,500 feet) 

 and Sierra Juarez (Laguna Hanson, 6,200 feet)." Elsewhere 

 (1928b), he calls it a "common resident on the western slopes of the 

 Sierra Juarez and Sierra San Pedro Martir; in winter invading 

 westwardly to the seacoast. Breeds in Upper Sonoran and Transi- 

 tion zones." 



Its habits are probably similar to those of the species elsewhere. 



Grilling Bancroft has sent me the measurements of a set of eight 

 eggs, which average 26.87 by 22.16 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 28.2 by 22.0, 26.8 by 22.8, and 26.2 by 20.7 

 millimeters. 



COLAPTES CHRYSOIDES CHRYSOmES (Malherbe) 

 CAPE GILDED FLICKER 



HABITS 



Because Malherbe's name was given to the first gilded flicker to 

 be described, and because his type came from the Cape region of 

 Baja California, this race becomes the type race of the species. Its 

 range extends from about latitude 28° N. to the southern extremity 

 of Baja California. It is about the same size as its nearest relative 

 to the northward, brufinesceTis, but is decidedly lighter in colora- 

 tion. It is smaller than meannsi and somewhat darker in coloration. 



William Brewster (1902) says of its haunts: "Mr. Belding and Mr. 

 Frazar agree as to the rarity of the Gilded Flicker on the higher 

 mountains, where only a few individuals were seen by the former, 

 and but two (both females, taken on the Sierra de la Laguna, April 

 29) obtained by the latter. The bird's true home is evidently at 

 the bases of the mountains, and among the foothills extending thence 

 to the shores of the Pacific on the south and west, and to the Gulf 

 on the east. Throughout this region it is a common species, although 

 not so numerously represented as Melanerpes uropygialis. On the 

 arid plains near the coast it breeds in the stems of the giant cactus." 



Grifiuig Bancroft (1930) says of this si)ecies in central Baja Cali- 

 fornia, south of latitude 28° : 



The birds are extremely wild, often flushing from a distance of a quarter 

 of a mile. They lay in old cavities and, probably, also in those that are new; 

 scarred sahuaro dries so rapidly that a definite determination on this point 

 was not possible. The nests are usually twenty feet or more above the ground 



