6S 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 14-JS^o. 5 



Di-ew's list and observed by me in La Plata 

 county. It was also observed by Mrs. D. D. 

 Stone,* who saw "5 young birds on July 10th." 

 I never saw it except in the pinon groves south 

 of Fort Lewis, at 8, .500 feet, and I think it 

 may breed there. It is not found below 7,000 

 feet, and breeds as high as 12,000. 



143. Si)hyr(ipicus varius nuchalls (Baird). 

 Red-naped Sapsucker. The only Colorado 

 record of this variety is in Drew's list, and 

 that of Mr. Denis Gale,t of Gold Hill. I also 

 observed it in La Plata county, and found it 

 abundant during the breeding season. Drew 

 also enters the eastern form upon the authority 

 of Prof. Ridgway, but I cannot think that it 

 occurs unless as an accidental visitant in north- 

 eastern Colorado, and this would be far out of 

 its range. In Captain Bendire's article in the 

 "Auk" is the best account of this bird I have 

 yet read, and I can add but a few new facts 

 regarding its habits. I have found it breeding 

 in aspen trees and also in cottonwood stubs, 

 from one to five feet from the ground. Near 

 Ft. Lewis, along the river bottom, arc many 

 places where the cottonwood trees have been 

 cut down to build "sliacks" and "dugouts" 

 to serve for shelter for the troops who first 

 began to build the military post. The first 

 site selected was about three miles north of 

 the present location, and here is found the 

 largest tract of the cottonwood stubs spoken 

 of above. The Red-naped Sapsucker finds these 

 very convenient for nest building, and I took 

 several sets of eggs here. Most of my eggs 

 were taken early in June, and the sets were 

 of three and four. The larger part of the egg is 

 imbedded in the chips, and it was seldom that 

 two eggs touched. Where I found nests in 

 aspens they were built higher (even as high 

 as 20 feet), but I found no nests in cottonwood 

 above 5 feet. The birds did not breed as early 

 by three weeks in 1887 as they did in 1886, 

 although the winter was colder, there was not 

 as much snow. I captured a female on one 

 nest, took her home (three miles), and set her 

 free just after dark. I was at the nest next 

 morning at 4.. 30, but she had got there ahead 

 of me and with her mate was examining the 

 extent of the damages done to their domicile 

 the afternoon before. They finally flew off, 

 but I have strong suspicions that I took a 

 second set of three eggs from the same birds 

 not .500 yards from the old home. 



144. SphryapicuH thyroideus (Cass.). Wil- 



* See O. & O., Vol. IX, No. 1, p. 10, 1881. 

 t See "Bendire on the habits of the genus Sphyra- 

 picus," Auk, Vol. V, pp. 225-240, July, 1888. 



liamson's Sapsucker. An abundant summer 

 resident throughout the entire pine belt, fre- 

 quenting the pines in preference to all other 

 trees. It is exceedingly wary, and although I 

 saw several, I only succeeded in shooting one 

 single female, and this fiew into the top of the 

 pine tree under which 1 was eating my lunch. 

 The nKile and female of this species were long 

 supposed to be separate, ornithologists even 

 going so far as to place them in several differ- 

 ent genera, but Mr. H. W. Henshaw, in 1873, 

 found them mated and breeding in this state 

 near Fort Garland, which fact found for us a 

 long looked-for female of loilliuniKoni and a 

 male of thyroideus. The great difference in 

 the sexes caused all the trouble, and it is not a 

 matter of wonder. Drew records it as high as 

 10,000 feet, and Mr. T. Marten Trippe found it 

 common at Idaho Springs and marks it as 

 "migratory; breed." I have not found its 

 nest, but Mr. Gale* took egys on May 26, 1887. 

 The nest complement is said to be "five or 

 six," and Captain Bendire gives the average 

 measurements of seventeen specimens as .07 

 X.67. 



145. Ceophlceus pikatuft (Linn.). Pileated 

 Woodpecker. I enter this species although 

 there is no record except that of Drew. In 

 "Birds of San Jaun County, Colorado," he 

 says, "I have been told of 'a great big Wood- 

 pecker,' and from the description think it to 

 be this bird." There seems to be no better 

 place in the United States than the timbered 

 portions of Colorado for this 1)ird, and it is 

 somewhat surprising that ornithologists have 

 not met with it in the state. It must indeed 

 be rare if not extirpated in Colorado. 

 (To be continued.) 



Charles F. Morrison. 



A Series of Eggs of the Golden- 

 cheeked Warbler. 



The following description of what is believed 

 to be the largest series in existence of the eggs 

 of the Golden -cheeked Warbler (Dendroeca 

 chrysoparia) will, I am sure, be interesting to 

 the readers of the O. & O., owing to the extreme 

 rarity of the bird, and the fact that its eggs 

 are only represented in very f(^w collections, 

 and in nearly all of those by only a single 

 set. 



A singular fact is that all the sets of eggs of 

 this bird that I have heard of (and I think I 



* Auk, Vol. V, No. 3, p. 238, July, 1888. 



