526 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



responds also in the absence of that brilliant polish so common in most 

 Woodpeckers. 



Subgenus XENOPICUS, Baird. 



Xenopicus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 83. (Tj'pe, Leuconerpes alholarvatus, Cass.) 

 Xcnocraugus, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Heiii. IV, 2, 1863, 74. (Same type.) 



This section of Picus is not appreciably different in form from Picus 

 villosus, which may be taken as the American type of the genus Picus. The 

 plumage appears softer, however, and the uniformly black body with white 

 head and white patch at base of primaries will readily distinguish it from 

 any allied group. 



Picus albolarvatus, Baird. 



WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



Leuconerp)es albolarvatus, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Oct. 1850, 106 (California). Bonap. 

 Consp. Zyg. At. Ital. 1854, 10. Melanerpes albolarvatus, Cassin, Jour. A. N. Sc. 

 2d series, II, Jan. 1853, 257, pi. xxii. — Newberry, Zobl. Cal. and Oreg. Route, 

 9, Rep. P. R. R. VI, 1857. Picus {Xenopicus) albolarvatus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 96. — Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1863, 202. — Lord, Pr. R. Art. Ins. IV, 

 1864, 112 (Ft. Colville ; nesting). — Cooper & Suckley, 160. — Elliot, Birds 

 N. Am. IX, plate. Picus albolarvatus, Sundevall, Consp. Pic. 29. — Cooper, Orn. 

 Cal. I, 1870, 382. Xcnocraugus albolarvatus. Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 

 74. Xenopicus albolarvatus, Elliot, lllust. Birds Am. I, pi. xxix. 



Sp. Char. 



Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest ; tip of first equidistant between 



^^ __ sixth and seventh. Entirely bluish-black, 



excepting the head and neck, and the outer 

 edges of the primaries (except outermost), 

 and the concealed bases of all the quills, 

 which are Avhite. Length, about 9.00; 

 wing, 5.25. Male with a narrow crescent 

 of red on the occiput. 



Hab. Cascade Mountains of Oregon and 

 southward into California. Sierra Nevada. 



Habits. This very plainly marked 

 Woodpecker, formerly considered very 

 P"^"' '" '' ""■< rare, is now known to be abundant in 



the mountains of Northern California and Nevada, as also in the mountain- 

 ranges of Washington Territory and Oregon. Dr. Cooper found it quite 

 common near the summits of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, in September, 

 1863, and procured three specimens. Three years previously he had met 

 with it at Fort Dalles, Columbia Eiver. He thinks that its chief range of 

 distriliution will be found to be between those two points. He also found 

 it as far north as Fort Colville, in the northern part of Washington Territory, 

 latitude 49°. He characterizes it as a rather silent bird. 



