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Scott 071 the Birds of Arizona. [October 



[A series of eight young birds, partly in nestling plumage, show that 

 the young in first plumage not only lack the divided, bristly tips to the 

 feathers of the narrow nuchal collar and lower plumage, so characteristic of 

 adult birds, but differ also from the latter notably in color. In the nestling 

 plumage the whole upper surface of the head, including the hind head, is 

 dull, dusky brown, with a trace of reddish on the forehead, but without 

 greenish gloss or any metallic tints. The back and upper surface of the 

 wings are bronzy green nearly as in the adult, with, however, in addition, 

 broad bars of steel-blue on the scapulars and quills. These bars are es- 

 pecially prominent on the secondaries and inner vanes of the primaries, 

 and are seen also in some specimens on the rectrices. The steel-blue 

 edging the outer vanes of the quill feathers in the adult is absent; and 

 the inner secondaries and longest primaries are tipped more or less promi- 

 nently with white. The throat, fore-neck and breast are dusky-brown, 

 varied with dull brownish white; sides blackish brown, washed with dull 

 brownish white, the latter often prevailing ; abdomen washed with dull 

 red, this color sometimes extending forward over the breast. The forehead, 

 cheeks, and region about the eye mixed dark red and blackish. 



The specimens before me present considerable individual variation, ir- 

 respective of sex, some lacking wholly the white tips to the remiges; in 

 some the steel-blue bars crossing the quills are not strongly defined ; and 

 the amount of red on the lower surface varies greatly. 



With the beginning of the first moult the bristly tipped feathers become 

 sprinkled through the breast plumage, and metallic tinted feathers appear 

 on the head, producing a peculiar mottled effect. — ]. A. A.] 



89. Melanerpes uropygialis. Gila Woodpecker. — A common resi- 

 dent, especially in the giant cactus regions, and occurs in numbers up to 

 an altitude of 4500 feet. Their occurrence at this altitude seems to be 

 coincident with the regular fall migration, as I have not noticed the spe- 

 cies about my house in summer, though they are rather common in fall 

 and spring, and are common at all times up to an altitude of 3C00 feet. 

 Though breeding in mesquite and cottonwood trees, they show a great 

 preference for groves of giant cactus, which afford nesting places for 

 thousands of pairs about Tucson, Florence, and Riverside. Near Tucson 

 I have taken many sets of fresh eggs, from three to five in number, from 

 May i^ until the last of the month. They do not always excavate new 

 nesting holes in the giant cactus, but more frequently take advantage of 

 some former nesting place. Besides their preference for this cactus in 

 nesting, thev are very fond of the fruit of this and other cacti, and fre- 

 quent the plants in very large numbers at the time the fruit ripens. 



90. Colaptes cafer. Red-shafted Flicker. — Common throughout 

 the region, except during the breeding season, when most if not all the 

 representatives of the species retire to the upper oak and pine forest re- 

 gions, rarely being seen in summer lower down than about 6000 feet. In 

 the series that I have collected are a number of individuals having, to a 

 greater or less degree, the peculiar plumage of the so-called 'J/ybr/dus.'' I 

 found the birds about to breed in the pine region of the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains during the last week in April, 1SS5. 



