1921 



BIRDS OF MONTANA 



77 



this species in the state is the upper limit of the Transition zone on the western 

 slopes of the divide, for the birds are found only in the heavy timbered forests 

 of Douglas fir and yellow pine of that zone. The southernmost records are in 

 the Bitterroot Valley, where it is reported as rare (Bailey, MS), and about Gold 

 Creek and Pioneer in Powell County (Saunders, 1912a, p. 26). The eastern rec- 

 ords are of one seen April 25, 1894, and another August 12, 1898, in Custer and 

 Dawson counties (Cameron, 1907, p. 270). While this species is found mainly 

 in the mountains, it is reported to occur in the Bitterrcot Valley in winter 

 (Bailey, MS). There are no dates for the nesting of this species in the state, 



Fig. 17. Tkuxk ok a yellow pine, showing work 

 ok the pileated woodpecker. yellow bay, 

 Flathead Lake; summer of 1916. Photo by 

 J. L. Sloanakeb. 



and occupied nests have not been found and recorded. I have seen the nest 

 holes of this species at Flathead Lake high up in tall yellow pines. 



It at first seems rather curious that the principal Montana hal)itat of tliis 

 species, which ranges east to the Atlantic in other states, is almost exactly tlie 

 same as the breeding ranges of certain other distinctly western species, such as 

 the Townsend Warbler and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. This is explained, 

 however, by the preference of this woodpecker for forests of large evergreen 

 trees, which grow only in the liumid region of northwestern ^lontana, and are 



