PICID^ — THE WOODPECKERS. 543 



Sp. Char. Markings, generally, as in S. varius. A red nuchal crescent. Belly yellow- 

 ish-white. The red of the throat extending over and obliterating the black stripe from the 

 lower mandible, except on the side of the jaw. Post-ocular black patch tinged with red. 

 Secondaries with little or no white on outer webs. Tail-feathers black, scarcely varied ; 

 the innermost with inner web, as in varius. Female similar, but with the chin white; 

 the throat red, bordered, as in male, by a black stripe from the bill to the black pectoral 

 patch. Length, 8.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.50. 



Hab. Middle Province of United States. Localities : Fort Mohave (Cooper, Pr. Cal. 

 Ac. 1861, 122) ; W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 53). 



This bird, first indicated as a simple variety of >S'. varius, is yet as decidedly 

 distinct and constant in its markings as a large number of what are consid- 

 ered to be valid species. The principal differences from varius have been 

 mentioned above : they consist mainly in the greater development of red, as 

 seen in wider throat-patch ; nuchal crescent : tinge on cheek ; a greater 

 amount of black, shown in unspotted outer webs of secondaries and blacker 

 tail, and in the paler colors below. The most striking peculiarity is in the 

 half-red throat of the female, which is entirely white in varius. The light 

 markings of the back are more distinctly arranged in two lines enclosing a 

 median of black, whicli show no concealed white spots as in varius. The 

 breast is much paler, only slightly tinged with yellow, instead of the rich 

 color to which >S'. varius owes its trivial name. 



Young birds vary in color to the same excessive degree as in varius. 



Habits. This form, closely allied to the varius, was at first known only 

 from the southern Rocky Mountains. Afterwards a large number of speci- 

 mens were obtained by Mr. C. Drexler at Fort Bridger, in Utah. 



Dr. Cooper procured a female specimen of this species at Fort Mohave, on 

 the 20th of February, 1861, which liad probably wandered in a storm from 

 the mountains, and whicli was the only one he met with. Dr. Heermann 

 states, also, that they were not rare at Fort Yuma. Dr. Cooper's l:)ird was 

 silent and inactive, as if exhausted by a long flight. He also saw these birds 

 rather common as he crossed the mountains near latitude 48° in September, 

 1860, and noticed a great similarity in their habits to those of the >S'. varius. 

 They chiefly frequented small deciduous trees, fed in the usual manner of 

 other Woodpeckers, and had also a shrill, unvaried call or note of alarm. 



Dr. Coues found this Woodpecker an abundant and a permanent resident 

 in Arizona. Its distinctness as a species he did not question. Everywliere 

 common, it seemed to prefer live cotton wood-trees and willows. Two speci- 

 mens of this race have been taken in New England, — one in New Hamp- 

 shire by Mr. William Brewster, the other in Cambridge by Mr. Hensiiaw. 



The Red-naped Woodpecker was found by Mr. Ridgway to be one of the 

 most abundant and characteristic species of the Wahsatch and Uintah 

 Mountains. It was also found, in greater or less numbers, throughout the 

 Great Basin, in the region of his route, and was even obtained on tlie eastern 

 Sierra Nevada, where, however, only one specimen was seen. Its favorite 

 resort, during summer, was the aspen groves in the mountains, at an altitude 



