376 LAND BIRDS 
is from seven to thirty inches deep and about six inches 
wide at the bottom, unlined save for a small amount of 
chip-like sawdust. Like that of the flicker’s nest, the 
doorway is quite as apt to be oval as round, and is from 
three to four inches in diameter. The eggs are from 
three to five, glossy, transparent white, and become 
opaque as incubation advances. 
407 a. CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER. — Melanerpes 
formicivorus bairdi. 
Famity : The Woodpeckers. 
Length: 8.50-9.50. 
Adult Male: Upper parts, sides of head and chest iridescent black ; 
chest streaked with white ; crown red ; feathers around base of bill 
black, bordered by band of white or yellow; rump, wing-patch, and 
belly white. 
Adult Female: Like male, but with red crown separated from the white 
or yellow forehead by a black band. 
Young: Like adults, but colors duller. 
Geographical Distribution: Mexico and western border of United States 
from Western Texas to California, and north along Pacific coast to 
Southern Oregon ; south to Lower California. 
California Breeding Range: Suitable localities in lower Transition zone 
west of the Sierra Nevada. 
Breeding Season: April 15 to July 15. 
Nest: Cavity or excavation in trees, from 20 to 50 feet from the ground. 
Eggs: 4 or 5; glossy white. Size 1.00 X 0.75. 
Tuts is the Woodpecker most uniquely Western in all 
his ways. He belongs exclusively to the oak belt and 
can be found only where these trees are abundant. Not 
at all shy, he seems to the Eastern bird-lover to replace 
the redhead of the home forests, and his gay “ wake-up, 
wake-up,” is a welcome greeting from an old friend. 
Like the redhead, he is very emphatic in his manner of 
