HARRIS’ WOODPECKER. 165 
7,000 feet above the sea-level. It is the most 
stupid bird imaginable: when five or six are 
flushed together, they fly up into the nearest pine- 
tree, and there sit; throw sticks and stones at 
them, until you are tired, and they scorn to be 
frightened. I have often shot one or two in a 
tree where others were sitting, without their 
attempting to fly away. They remain in the 
deep woods and sheltered places during the 
winter, and feed on the leaves of the pine-tree. 
They begin nesting in May, and in proceeding 
from Colville to the Rocky Mountains I saw lots 
of chickens in June and July not long from the 
nest. I do not think these birds pair, in the 
strict sense of the word; but from the large 
number of females compared to males, I am dis- 
posed to think they are polygamists. I never 
succeeded in obtaining the eggs, but the mature 
birds and chickens are set up in the British 
Museum. 
It may be as well to mention here the different 
woodpeckers common in the pine-forests, open 
timbered lands, and shrubby brush surrounding 
the lakes and prairies both east and west of the 
Cascades :— 
Harris’ Wooprecker (Picus harrisii, Aud.). 
—This woodpecker is by far the most abundant 
