April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. 1 3 



Sphyrapicus thyroideus (Cassin). Williamson Sapsucker. 



On April 6, 1902, I saw about a dozen Williamson Sapsuckers near 

 the summit of the mountains at an altitude of about 9000 feet. Though 

 not at all in a compact flock they seemed to keep rather close together, 

 and when one flew any distance away, the others soon followed. The 

 bulk of them were females, and but one or two males were seen, one of 

 which was, with great difficulty secured, for they were very wild. On 

 April 9 several more were seen and a female secured at this same place ; 

 and a male was taken a mile or two from this place, at an altitude of 

 nearly 10,000 feet. These were the last I saw in the spring, though they 

 do occur later as I have a female that was taken in the Huachucas by H. 

 Kimball on April 20, 1895. On August 30, 1902, I secured a female in 

 Tanner Canyon at an altitude not over 7000 feet, the lowest point at 

 which I have seen this species in the mountains. I think that this bird 

 was a migrant returning south early, as I doubt very much if they breed 

 anywhere in the Huachucas. On February 21, 1903, I shot a female at 

 the same place where I had seen so many the previous year ; it was a 

 favorite locality for >uicholis and I took several of that species there, but 

 saw no more of thyroideus, nor were any more seen for the remainder 

 of the time I was in the mountains. 



Melanerpes formicivorus aculeatus Mearns. Ant-eating Woodpecker. 



A most abundant summer resident in the lower parts of the moun- 

 tains ; a few winter here but they are scarce during the cold weather. I 

 saw but two or three during February and the early part of March, about 

 the middle of March they began to arrive in numbers, and by April i 

 were most abundant. Primarily a bird of the oak woods they seldom 

 venture into the higher parts of the mountains, breeding almost entirely 

 below 6000 feet. About July i the young birds begin to make their ap- 

 pearance so like the adults" in general appearance that it is difficult to 

 distinguish between them. The young of both sexes usually have the 

 entire crown red, as in the adult male, but of a duller color, more of a 

 brick red; but one young female secured has the red area very limited 

 and coming to a point behind, so as to form a small, triangular shaped 

 patch on the crown. Of seventeen specimens collected in the Huachucas, 

 three show, more or less distinctly, white markings on the outer tail 

 feathers. In one of these, an adult female, the marks consist of indistinct 

 white spots, mostly on the inner web. The other two, juvenile females, 

 have the outer feathers distinctly, though irregularly, barred with white 

 for about half their length. 



Aculeatus seems to me to be a perfectly good subspecies, inter- 

 mediate in characteristics and habitat between true formich'orns and 

 bairdi, as claimed for it by its describer. (See Auk Vol. VH, 1900, 249). 

 My Huachuca Mountain birds have the "solid" black breast of bairdi, 

 and in the coloration and markings of the lower parts generally, are abso- 

 lutely indistinguishable from that race ; but they are smaller, with 

 smaller and weaker bills, and possess one important characteristic over- 

 looked bv Dr. Mearns in his description of aculeatus, which serves to 

 distinguish them from either foriniciz'orus or bairdi. This is the pattern 

 of coloration of the crown in the females, in which respect the Arizona 

 birds apparently approach the Lower California form angnstifrons. In 

 most cases the width of the white or yellow frontal band and the black 

 crown band is about equal to the width (longitudinally) of the red occi- 

 pital patch. Occasionally it is a trifle greater, but invariably the black 



