330 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YO SEMITE 



months and so need to descend to lower altitudes where they may find in 

 abundance soft-barked trees from which cambium may be easily obtained. 

 Thus they may tide over the season when there is little or no flow of sap 

 in the forest trees at higher levels. 



At Tamarack Flat, on May 24, 1919, a Sierra Red-breasted Sapsucker 

 called from high in a conifer and then flew^ down to an upstanding stub 

 on a prostrate pine. The bird hopped about on this stub and on small 

 fragments of limbs close to or even upon the ground. ' It would seem that 

 just after the snow is gone bark foraging species (to which category the 

 sapsucker belongs when not dependent upon sap), finding little forage on 

 tree trunks, seek sustenance near the ground. 



No nests of this sapsucker were located by us. A bird taken near 

 Chinquapin on May 21, 1919, judging from the glandular condition of 

 the skin on the abdomen, had already begun incubation ; another individual 

 collected near Tamarack Flat on May 25, 1919, was just ready to lay a 

 set of 4 eggs. 



Except for the occasional fruit trees attacked during the winter months, 

 we do not believe that the role of the red-breasted sapsucker in the central 

 Sierra Nevada is economically important. Its general predilection for 

 deciduous trees and its habit of returning again and again to the same 

 individual tree save the forest as a whole from any serious injury. Cer- 

 tainly the part of this bird in this respect amounts to very much less than 

 the ravages resulting from parasitism by mistletoe, or from attack by 

 insects or by fungous diseases of the bark, wood, or leaves. 



Red-naped Sapsucker. Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis Baird 



Field characters. — Similar to Red-breasted Sapsucker but with red color restricted 

 on throat, and replaced on breast by black. 



Occurrence. — Winter visitant in small numbers on west slope of Sierra Nevada. 

 Observed in Yosemite' Valley near foot of Yosemite Falls, November 19, 1915, and at 

 Cascades, November 24, 1915, one individual in each instance, and two specimens taken 

 10 miles east of Coulterville, December 12, 1915. Seen foraging on dead pine and 

 incense cedar. 



The Red-naped Sapsucker is similar in general appearance and habits 

 to the Red-breasted Sapsucker, and seems, in the central Sierra Nevada, 

 to occupy during the winter season the upper part of the range which the 

 latter species fills in summer. The nearest part of the summer range of 

 the Red-naped Sapsucker is, as far as we know, the Warner Mountains 

 of northeastern California. 



