AVES PICID^. 735 



ombii trees about puestos and ranches harbour some ; but the favourite 

 resort in the nesting-season is an estancia with a large plantation of trees, 

 gums, acacias, etc. In a country where trees are raised only at much ex- 

 pense, and are greatly appreciated for their shade and shelter, it is ob- 

 viously undesirable to have them (while still growing) pierced by the 

 Woodpecker holes, so that estancieros are under the necessity of killing 

 many Pampas Woodpeckers in the spring. Fifteen were shot at Sta. 

 Elena during the month ending 22d October, and yet I saw four or five 

 about the trees a day or two after. Finally one pair succeeded in breed- 

 ing, and four fresh eggs were taken from a hole in a decayed gum in the 

 last days of November. At Sta. Adelaida I saw a Woodpecker feeding 

 its young in a hole in a gum as late as the 29th January. After the breed- 

 ing-season they do no damage, and at all seasons they are among the 

 most familiar birds about houses where there are trees. I have seen the 

 mud walls of a deserted ruined rancho pierced through and through with 

 holes, and disturbed Woodpeckers from the spot ; the holes may have 

 been partly the work of the Minera. But I have heard complaints of 

 Woodpeckers damaging the woodwork and walls of houses. The Pam- 

 pas Woodpecker obtains most of its food on the ground, and it is common 

 to flush them (in family parties after the breeding season) when riding 

 over the camp. They perch crosswise on a branch to a great extent, but 

 are also very commonly seen clinging vertically to and climbing up the 

 trunks and larger branches." 



CoLAPTES PiTius CACHiNNANS Wctmore and Peters. 



Colaptes pitius cachinnans Wetmore and Peters, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 

 1922, 35, p. 43 (Bariloche, Rio Negro). 

 Description. — Adult female, 7759 P. U. O. C. Rio Chico, Patagonia, 

 February 20, 1897. Total length, 12.60 inches; wing, 6.35 ; culmen, 1.46; 

 tail, 4.65; tarsus, 1.15. Whole top of the head gray, sides of face and 

 entire throat pale buffy or isabelline ; back and wings dark brown with 

 narrow buffy or brownish white transverse bars, rump yellowish white, up- 

 per tail coverts black with transverse yellowish white bars, wing quills 

 yellowish, tail black, outermost pair of feathers with slight yellowish white 

 tips and very small spots on the edge of the outer web ; under parts 

 barred black and yellowish white, breast with black predominating, bars 

 about equal on other parts ; bill and feet dull horn color. 



