PICID^E — THE WOODPECKERS. 527 



Dr. Newberry only met with this bird among the Cascade Mountains, in 

 Oregon, where he did not find it common. 



Mr. J. G. Bell, who first discovered this species, in the vicinity of Sutter's 

 Mills, in California, on the American liiver, represents it as fre(]^uenting the 

 higher branches of the pines, keeping almost out of gunshot range. Active 

 and restless in its movements, it uttered at rare intervals a sharp and clear 

 note, while busily pursuing its search for food. 



Mr. John K. Lord states that the only place in which he saw this very 

 rare bird was in the open timbered country about the Colville Valley and 

 Spokan Eiver. He has observed that this Woodpecker almost invariably 

 liaunts woods of the Pinus ponderosa, and never retires into the thick damp 

 forest. It arrives in small numbers at Colville, in April, and disappears 

 again in October and November, or as soon as the snow begins to fall. Al- 

 though he did not succeed in obtaining its eggs, he saw a pair nesting in tlie 

 month of May in a hole bored in the branch of a very tall pine-tree. It 

 seldom flies far, but darts from tree to tree with a short jerking flight, and 

 always, while flying, utters a sharp, clear, chirping cry. Mr. Eidgway found 

 it to be common in the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the region of 

 the Donner Lake Pass. It was first observed in July, at an altitude of about 

 five thousand feet, on the western slope of that range, where it was seen play- 

 ing about the tops of the tallest dead pines. On various occasions, at all sea- 

 sons, it was afterwards found to be quite plentiful on the eastern slope, in the 

 neighborliood of Carson City, Nevada. Its habits and manners are described 

 as much like those of the P. harrisi, but it is of a livelier and more restless 

 disposition. Its notes have some resemblance to those of that species, but 

 are of a more rattling character. It is easily recognized, when seen, by its 

 strikingly peculiar plumage. 



