THE ST. LUCAS WOODPECKER. 65 



26. Dryobates scalaris lucasanus (Xantus). 



ST. LUCAS WOODPECKER. 



Picus lucasanus Xantus, Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1859, 298. 

 Dryobates scalaris lucasanus RiDGWAY, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, VIII, 1885, 355. 



(B — , C 2dlb, R 3G3a, C 136, U 390rt,) 



Geographical range: Lower California; casual (!) iu soirthern California. 



The St. Lucas Woodpecker, a closely allied race to Baird's Woodpecker, is a 

 common resident in the southern portions of the peninsula of Lower California, 

 where it was discovered by Mr. J. Xantus, near Cape St. Lucas, and described 

 in the "Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Penn- 

 sylvania, in 1859." Mr. Walter E. Bryant, in his "Catalogue of the Birds of 

 Lower California," makes the following remarks about this subspecies: "I first 

 met with this Woodpecker on Santa Margarita Island, and afterwards collected 

 specimens as far north as latitude 28°; Mr. Bel ding found it very common at 

 the Cape region, but rarely saw any in the Victoria Mountains."^ 



Mr. A. W. Anthony took a specimen at San Telnio, Lower California, on 

 April 30, 18!) 3, and saw others there, and Mr. W. W. Price took another on April 

 29, 1889, at White Water, San Diego County, California, which extends the 

 range of this subspecies considerably to the northward. 



Mr. Gerritt S. Miller, jr., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who records the 

 capture of the above specimen, which is now in his collection, says in referrino- 

 to it: "Mr. Price writes me that the specimen was shot from a telegraph pole about 

 3 miles west of the station of White Water. Woodpeckers, apparently of the 

 same kind, were seen on several other occasions on the telegraph poles alono- 

 the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, near White Water, but they were 

 very shy and no more could be killed. The birds were nesting in the telegraph 

 poles, there being no other wood in the region,"" 



The eggs of the St. Lucas Woodpecker I believe remain still tnidescribed, 

 but are probably indistinguishable from those of the preceding subspecies, and 

 its general habits also appear to be very similar. 



27. Dryobates nuttallii (Gambel). 



nuttall's woodpecker. 



Picus nuttalUi Gambel, Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, April, 



1843, 259. 

 Dryobates nuttallii Ridgway, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, VIII, 1885, 355. 



(B 78, C 297«, E 364, C 435, U 397.) 



Geographical range: Northern Lower California from the San Pedro Martir 

 Mountains, north through California to southern Oregon (Umpqua Valley), west of the 

 Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. 



Nuttall's Woodpecker, which is about the same size as the Texan Wood- 

 pecker, is an inhabitant of tlie lower foothill regions throughout its range, and is 



' Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 2d series, Vol. II, 1889, p. 286. 

 2 The Auk, Vol. XI, 1894, p. 178. 

 16896— No. 3 5 



