BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



entire head white, and a patch of the same on the wings. The 

 male bird has a scarlet band on the back of the neck. There 

 are also the Arctic three-toed woodpecker, found in our high 

 Sierras, a black-backed, white-breasted bird, the male with a 

 crown-patch of yellow; the red-breasted sapsucker, a showy 

 fellow when in full plumage; and the great pileated wood- 

 pecker, with one exception the largest of his tribe in this coun- 

 try, and a denizen of the most secluded woodlands. 



The California woodpecker has gained world-wide celeb- 

 rity from its habit of riddling dead trees with holes and filling 

 them with acorns. It is a gaily adorned species, with a glossy 

 blue back, white wing and rump patches, a scarlet cap and a 

 white forehead and throat-patch. The under parts are white, 

 tinged with sulphur yellow, except the breast, which is black, 

 and the sides, which are more or less streaked with black. The 

 merry, though unmusical, ka rafi ^a, ^a ral^ ^a of this bird is 

 a familiar note in the wooded portions of the state. Lewis's 

 woodpecker is another interesting species, confined to the 

 mountains except during the winter months, when it is driven 

 southward through the valleys. 



The red-shafted flicker is to me one of the most entertaining 

 of the woodpeckers, partly because he has so many character- 

 istics that unite him with the perching birds, and partly because 

 he is everywhere so abundant and connected with so many de- 

 lightful reminiscences of woodland excursions. You may 

 know him by the flash of scarlet on his outstretched wings and 

 tail as he flies past you with vigorous, bounding flight, by the 

 conspicuous white rump-patch and by his loud, clear, drawn- 

 out call-note. 



We have a whip-poor-will, which breeds in our mountains. 



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