432 THE RED-NAPED S.\I'SUI|K1:E<. 



coverts heavily liarred, or marked chietly in liastate pattern, with black. Hill and 

 feet slaty black; iris brown. Adult fctitalc: Ijke male but carmine nuchal patch 

 reduced or wantinjj; throat-patch reduced by white of chin. In youuy birds the 

 areas of red are much reduced (wanting except on crown?) the throat being 

 clouded with ilusky instead. Length about 8.50 (215.9); wing 5.00 {12/); tail 

 3.20 (81.3 ) ; bill i.(X) ( 25.4 I. 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size; highly variegated black, white, and red 

 (and sometimes tinged with yellow below) ; red throat-patch delined by black (or 

 white above in female* distinctive. 



Nesting. — Xcsl: A gourd-shaped excavation in decaying wood of live aspen 

 tree, 5 to 30 feet u]); entrance ijj inches wide; hole 8-10 inches deep; no lining. 

 Eyys: 3-6, white, moderately glossed, ovate to elliptical ovate. .\v. size, .90 x .(<y 

 (22.9X 17). Season: June 1-15; one brood. 



General Range. — Rocky Mountain and adjacent ranges from .\rizona and 

 New .Mcxicci north to alM)Ut Lat. 34 in .Mberta and Hritish Columbia; west to 

 eastern slopes of Cascade Mountains in Wasiungton anil ( )regon and to the 

 Sierra .\eva<la ; in winter south to Lower California and Mexico; casual in 

 Kansas. 



Range in Washington. — -In general, in the hilly country of the northeastern 

 part of tlic State ami in ilie Hluc Mountains; commonly along river Ixtttoms in 

 Stevens County; rare or casual on eastern slopes of the Cascades. 



Authorities.— Bendire. Auk. \'ol. \'. July, 1888, 226. Sr". J. 



Specimens. — I'rov. C. 



TIIL western variety of tiic Yellow-bellied Sapsucker difTers only slightly 

 frniii liie eastern bird in appearance, and not at all in dis])osition. Of xorius I 

 lia\e already said" : 



I'eforc the maple sa[) lias ceased running, our woods are invaded 

 from the south by a small army of hungry Sapsuckers. The birds are 

 rather unsuspicious, quiet, and sluggish in their movements. Their com- 

 mon note is a drawling and petulant kcc-a. like that of a distant Hawk; 

 but they use it rather to vent their feelings than to call their fellows, for 

 altho there may be twenty in a given grove, they arc only chance associates 

 and have no dealings one with another. Starting near the Ixittom of a 

 tree, one goes hitching his way up the trunk, turns a lazy back-somersault 

 to reinspcct some neglected crevice, or leaps out into the air to capture a 

 passing insect. The bulk of this bird's food, however, at least during the 

 migration, is secured at the expense of the tree itself. The rough exterior 

 bark layer, or cortex of, say, a maple, is strip|)ed off, and then the bird 

 drills a transverse series of oval or roughly rectangular holes through 

 which the sap is soon flowing. The inner bark is eaten as removed and 

 the saj) is eagerly drunk. It is said also that in some cases the bird relies 

 ujxjn this sugar-bush to attract insects which it likes, and thus makes its 



