426 



Scott oh the Birds of ArUona, [October 



was rather common until the la: t of Janiuirv. On mj visits to the pine 

 woods, both of the Pinal and Catalina Mountains, I have always found it 

 rather common. 



82. Dryobates pubescens gairdnerii. Gairdner's Woodpecker. — 

 A rare species, apparently, which I have only metwith in a single locality. 

 This was on the Gila River, near Riverside, in April, 1SS2, where I took a 

 single male, the only one seen. 



83. Dryobates scalaris. Texan Woodpecker. — Common in all the 

 localities visited. Limited in its upward range on the mountains to about 

 5000 feet; not at all common above 4000 feet. On the plains, especiallv 

 in the mesquite parks, it is very common, and it also affects the cholla 

 region. Here I have frequently met with the species digging in the 

 ground at the roots of a cactus. They are at times gregarious. I particu- 

 larly noticed this in December, 18S5, when I frequently met the species in 

 flocks of from four to a dozen, on the plains at an altitude of 3000 feet. I 

 have found the species breeding in May at an altitude of 3500 feet. On 

 May 27, 1SS4, I found a nest in a mesquite tree. The opening to the nest 

 was fourteen feet from ground. Eggs, five, nearly ready to hatch. 



84. Dryobates stricklandi.* Strickland's Woodpecker. — The only 

 point where I have met with this species is in the oak region on the San 

 Pedro slope of the Catalina Mountains. Here, except in midwinter, it is 

 not uncommon, and Mr. Brown has found it common in the Santa Rita 

 Mountains. I have never found it so commonly as Mr. Henshaw did in 

 the Santa Ritas, nor have I found it gregarious, as described by Mr. Hen- 

 shaw. Rarely have I met with more than two in company, and a family, 

 two parents and three young, were the most I ever saw associated together. 

 But I frequently met in the fall a party composed of Arizona Jays, Cali- 

 fornia Woodpeckers, various Titmice and Warblers, and a pair of Strick- 

 land's Woodpeckers. The birds where I have met with them appear late 

 in January or early in February, and are apparently already mated. A 

 nest found on the 27 of May, 1884, was in an oak about ten feet from the 

 ground. The nest was much like that of the Hairy Woodpecker, save that 

 the opening was a little smaller. It contained three young birds about 

 two-thirds grown and half feathered. The young birds have at first a full 

 red cap on the head, without regard to sex, though it is perhaps more 



* [In 'The Ibis' for April, i836 (pp. 112-115) Mr. E. Hargitt considers the Picits 

 stricklandi of Malherbe, from Mexico, to be specifically distinct from the Arizona Wood- 

 pecker, hitherto so-called. He therefore names the Arizona bird Picus arizoiKS, and 

 gives the following diagnosis : 



"P. similis P. stricklandi, sed dorso uniformi nee albo-fasciato distinguendus. 



"Hab. In montibus 'Santa Rita" dictis in Arizona." 



D. stricklandi 1% sa.\(l by Mr. Hargitt to have "the upper parts barred with white, 

 whereas in the Arizona bird the back is perfectly uniform in both old and young." 



In addition to Mr. Scott's remarks respecting the red cap in the young, it may be re- 

 marked that in his series of 21 specimens, about one-fourth of them show more or less 

 distinct white bars on the rump, irrespective, apparently, of sex or age. In some ex- 

 amples these bars are quite conspicuous ; but none of them show any white bars on 

 the interscapulars,— J. A. A.] 



