516 ORNITHOLOGY. 



of the Woodpecker family; this was our own impression, corrected only by 

 tli(! (>l)talning of specimens. Prince Maximilian described a white-tailed 

 Woodpecker ("Picws leucurus") seen by him in the Rocky Mountains, 

 which was undoubtedly this bird; and Mr. J. A. Allen, an accurate observer, 

 was more recently led into the same error.^ 



In the pine woods near Carson City these birds were very abundant, 

 and, with the Jays {Cyanura frontalis), made the forest resound with their 

 harsh, discordant cries. Their notes were often to be heard when the bird 

 could not be seen, and were generally the first indication of its presence. 

 The usual utterence, a guttural chur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r, repeated several times, 

 and generally as two or more alighted in the same tree, possessed a peculiar 

 snarling character; occasionally, however, an individual would take up a 

 rather musical piping strain, wlrich being immediately answered by all the 

 others in the neighborhood, made the woods echo with their cries. As 

 before stated, all the actions of this bird call to mind the traits of the Wood- 

 pecker tribe; it is a conspicuous object as it floats in gentle undulations 

 above the tops of the tall pine trees, when it resembles in its motions the 

 Ring-necked Woodpecker {Melanerpes torquatus); it is also often seen to 

 swoop to the ground to pick up a fallen pine-seed, return to the tree and 

 hammer it vigorously against a branch; and should two or more alight in 

 close proximity a general snarling chur-r-r-r ensues, reminding one of the 

 quan-elsome Red-headed Woodpecker {Melanerpes erythrocephalus). 



We were unable to find the eggs of this bird, but a nest was discov- 

 ered on the Ruby Mountains, in August, 1868, after the young had flown. 

 This nest was in a hole — apparently the deserted excavation of the Red- 

 shafted Flicker — in a tall pine stump, about twenty feet from the ground; 

 the nest itself was a very elaborate and symmetrical one, composed of pine 

 needles and fine roots, with larger sticks outside, resembling in its general 

 character that made by other species of the family. Attention was fir.st 

 attracted to this nest by observing a pair of tliese birds enter the cavity in 

 question. It is not known whether it is the constant habit of this .species 

 to thus build inside of holes in trees, but on the Sierra Nevada they were 



1 See Ajnerican XaturaUst, Vol. VI, p. 350, and Bull. Mas. Comp. Zoology, Vol. 

 Ill, No. 6, June, 1872, p. 150. 



