552 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



behind the eyes, dark crimson. Belly blood-red, streaked finely with hoary whitish- 

 Wings and tail entirely uniform dark glossy-green. Female similar. Length about 10.50 ; 

 wing, 6.50. Young without the nuchal collar, and the red of head replaced by black. 

 Hab. Western America from Black Hills to Pacific. 



The peculiarities in the feathers of the under parts have ah^eady been ad- 

 verted to. This structure appears to be essentially connected with the red 

 featliers, since these have the same texture in the other species of the genus, 

 wlierever the color occurs. The remark may perhaps apply generally to the 

 red feathers of most, if not all, Woodpeckers, and may be connected with 

 some chemical or physical condition yet to be determined. 



Habits. Lewis's Woodpecker would seem to have a distribution through- 

 out the Pacific Coast, from the sea-shore to the mountains, and from Puget 

 Sound to the Gulf of California, and extending to the eastern border of the 

 Great Plains, within the limits of the United States. They \vere first ob- 

 served by Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, in their memorable journey to the 

 Pacific. Subsequently Mr. Nuttall met with them in his westward journey, 

 in the central chain of the Ptocky Mountains. This was in the month of 

 July. Among the cedar and pine woods of Bear Eiver, on the edge of Upper 

 California, he found them inhabiting the decayed trunks of the pine-trees, 

 and already feeding their young. Afterwards, at the close of August, he met 

 them in flocks on the plains, sixty miles up the Wahlamet. He describes 

 them as very unlike Woodpeckers in their habits, perching in dense flocks, 

 like Starlings, neither climbing branches nor tapping in the manner of their 

 tribe, but darting after insects and devouring berries, like Thrushes. He saw 

 them but seldom, either in the dense forests of the Columbia or in any set- 

 tled part of California. 



Townsend speaks of their arriving about the first of May on Bear Ptiver 

 and the Columbia. Both sexes incubate, according to his observations. 



Dr. Gambel first observed this Woodpecker in a belt of oak timber near 

 the Mission of St. Gabriel, in California, and states that it was abundant. 

 He also describes its habits as peculiar, and unlike tlie generality of Wood- 

 peckers. Dr. Heermann, too, speaks of finding it in all the parts of Cali- 

 fornia wdiich he visited. Dr. Newberry, in his Notes on the zoology of 

 Lieutenant Williamson's expedition, refers to it as most unlike the Cali- 

 fornia Woodpecker in the region it occupies and in its retiring habits. He 

 describes it as seeming to choose, for its favorite haunts, the evergreen 

 forests upon the rocky declivities of the Cascade and Eocky Mountains. 

 He first observed it in Northern California, but subsequently noticed it in 

 the mountains all the way to the Columbia. Though often seen in low ele- 

 vations, it was evidently alpine in its preferences, and was found most fre- 

 quently near the line of perpetual snow; and when crossing the snow lines, 

 in the mountain-passes, it was often observed flying far above the party. He 

 describes it as being always shy, and difficult to shoot. 



Dr. S. W. Woodhouse describes this species as being common in the Indian 



