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466 LAND BIRDS 
In the summer its food consists of grasshoppers, large 
black crickets, wood ants, larvee, wild strawberries and 
raspberries, cherries, acorns, pine seeds and juniper ber- 
ries. Where grasshoppers and Mayflies abound, it will 
gather these insects and stick them into cracks in the 
bark to be eaten later. 
Unlike most woodpeckers, this species have the habits 
of the flycatcher, darting out to catch an insect on the 
wing and returning to the perch on the top of a dead 
pine tree. The young remain in the nest three to four 
weeks, and are fed upon insects and fruit by the parents 
for some time after leaving. 
After the breeding season is over the Lewis gradually 
makes his way with his young into the higher moun- 
tain forests, where they remain in flocks until the cold 
weather of late September sends them toward the 
valleys. 
471. VERMILION FLYCATCHER. — Pyrocephalus 
rubineus mexicanus. 
Famity: The Flycatchers. 
Length : 5.50-6.25. 
Adult Male: Head of male with crest ; upper parts, except top of head, 
brownish gray, darker on wings and tail; crown and under parts 
bright scarlet. . 
Adult Female: Upper parts brownish gray ; under parts whitish ; breast 
streaked with grayish ; belly tinged with pale red or salmon. 
Young: Upper parts grayish, feathers edged with whitish ; under parts 
whitish, streaked across the breast. 
Geographical Distribution: Mexico, Southern and Lower California to 
Central America, north to Southwestern Utah and Nevada. 
Breeding Range: If at all in California, this flycatcher breeds in the 
vicinity of the Colorado River near Fort Yuma. Breeds in Utah, 
Arizona, New Mexico, and Southwestern Texas, 
