FAMILY PICIDAE 567 



Candelaria Hydrographic Station, March 11, 1961. This individual 

 had the body well encased in fat. Dr. and Mrs. Robert Scholes 

 (Condor, 1954, p. 167) reported 1 seen at Summit Gardens, Canal 

 Zone, December 17, 1950. Another sight record is by George V. N. 

 Powell on Cerro Campana, western sector of the Province of Panama, 

 November 6, 1966. 



This eastern subspecies of the yellow-bellied sapsucker nests from 

 central Mackenzie and southern Labrador in northern Canada south- 

 ward to the northern United States from South Dakota and Iowa 

 eastward. In migration it is common through Mexico, Guatemala, 

 and El Salvador, mainly in mountain areas. A few range farther in 

 Central America to reach a southern limit in central Panama. 

 They are fairly common also in winter in the Greater Antilles west 

 to Hispaniola, with a few continuing farther to the Lesser Antilles 

 beyond, to Guadeloupe, and Dominica; and to Aruba, Curasao and 

 Bonaire off the coast of South America. Thomas R. Howell (Auk, 

 1953, p. 119) after a survey of museum specimens points out the 

 interesting fact that the majority of the migrants that come far 

 south to Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies are females. 



In its northern range this species cuts series of holes in the trunks 

 of several kinds of trees from which it drinks the sap, eats the soft 

 cambium layer of the bark, and takes insects attracted to these 

 cuttings. 



The tongue, adapted to this method of feeding, differs from that of 

 other woodpeckers in that it is only slightly extensible, and has the 

 tip soft, with brushlike filaments. The method of feeding in the far 

 southern migrants does not seem to be recorded. The two from Pan- 

 ama that I have examined had eaten ants. 



The Spanish name, carp inter o saucero, cited for this species is 

 the one given to it in Mexico. 



VENILIORNIS FUMIGATUS SANGUINOLENTUS (Sclater) : 

 Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Carpintero Pardo 



Chloronerpes sanguinolentus P. L. Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 27, 1859, 

 p. 60, pi. 151. (Omoa, Honduras.) 



Small ; plain smoky brown throughout. 



Description. — Length 150-170 mm. Inner hind toe small. Adult 

 male, forehead and nasal tufts dark brown; feathers of crown and 

 nape basally dark gray, tipped with red, with an indistinct subterminal 

 bar of blackish brown ; back and scapulars tawny-olivaceous, with 

 a golden, sometimes orange-red, wash; rump and upper tail coverts 



