438 THE NORTHERN' PILEATED \V(\>1)1'ECKEK 



0\'l-"k and beyiiiiil tla- iiitcrcsl of /i/V. wliicli i> always the greatest cliarm 

 of an animal, be it bird <>r snail, a cnrioiis interest attaches to many creatures 

 thru some acciileiit of discovery, some misai)|)rehension, or neglect, or absurd 

 surprise, — the historical interest, humanly considereil. Now the amusing 

 thing about Williamson Sapsuckers, male and female, is that ages after (iod 

 had joined them together man snatched them rudely asunder, thrusting Mr. 

 Williamson into one pigeon-hole, labeled 'ii'illianisoini, and Mrs. Williamson — 

 under a vernacular alias of Brown-headed Woodpecker — since she was indis- 

 creet enough to (lit out alone one day, into another, labeled J'icus Ihyroidciis. 

 This legal crime, which was committed in the probate court of ornithological 

 inexperience in 1853 and iH^j, was not corrected until 1873, when Mr. llen- 

 sliaw caught a pair of these really very dissimilar birds innocently conspiring 

 to .set the decree of a l)lundering divorce court at naught. 



Of tile occurrence of this species in Washington, there is little to be .said. 

 There is a record for Hritish Columbia, Similikameen, June, 1SS2, by K. \'. 

 GritVm, whence Hendire evidently assumes its i>resence along the eastern s1o|r* 

 of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. I am aware of only one published 

 instance", recording a female narrowly observed by myself at the Vakima 

 Soda Springs, on August 9, iSi/>. Besides that we have obtained momentary 

 glimp.ses of others in tlie Steiiekiii \;dley in three successive seasons, 1906- 

 I f K)(S. 



Bendire notes that these Sapsuckers are like the other species in habit, 

 except that thev are not at all confined to deciduous trees, and that they are 

 found (in Oregon, California, and Colorado) at the higher levels, from 5000 

 feet u]). So far, we have fouiul them in Washington only at altitudes of 

 1000 to I ;oo feet. 



No. 17.S. 

 NORTHERN IMLKATKD WOODPECKKR. 



A. O. I'. No. 405a. Phloeotomus pileatus ahieticola (Bangs). 



SMionyms. — LnccncK. CocK-oi--Tm:-Wnons. Bi..\ck Wo<wcncK. 



Description. — Adult male: General plumage sooty black, lustcrlcss save on 

 wings and back: whole top of head and lengthened crest bright red: red malar 

 stripes changing to black behind, and sc]>arating white spaces; chin and ui>per 

 throat white: also a white stripe extending from imstriU and belmv eye to nape, 

 and ])rodnced downward and backward to shoulder: narrow white -tripe over and 

 l)eiiind eve: lining and edge of wing, and a large spot (nearly concealeil I at base 

 of i)riinaries, white: i)lack feathers of sides sparingly white-tipped: bill dark 

 phiinbeons almve, lighter below, save at tip: feet black. In .some specimens the 



a. Thf Wilion Bulletin, No. 39. June, looj. p. 6y 



