iSSS.] Bendire on the Habits of the Genus Sphyrapictis. 2 20 



.90 X .64, .88 X .66 inches. A second set, taken at the same 

 phice a year later, on June 2, 1878, measures .89 X '^'^1 

 .84 X -(i^-, -82 X '(^'>(^ inches. A third set, taken by me near 

 Fort Khmiath, Oregon, on June 3, 1883, contained five eggs 

 partly incubated ; two of these were broken in chopping them 

 out ; the remaining three measure as follows ; .84 X -68, .84 X 

 .6(i^ .83 X -^^ inches. A single egg taken also near Fort Kla- 

 math, Oregon, June 5, 1883, measures, .89 X -64 The average 

 measurement is .88 X '^^ inches. These eggs, like those of all 

 Woodpeckers, are pure white after blowing ; they are generally 

 ovate in shape, and but moderately glossy or lustrous. 



My own limited observations during the breeding season bear 

 out Mr. Gale's statements completely, viz., that this species breeds 

 exclusively in live aspen trees. Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. A., in 

 Bull. Nutt. Club, October, 1881, states, however, that he found 

 a nest of these birds in a dead Cottonwood tree in Montana. In 

 Southwestern Oregon, in the mountain parks of the Klamath 

 Lake region, these birds breed sparingly at as low an altitude as 

 5000 feet, and it is more than probable that at a higher one, near 

 the summit of the Cascade Range, they may be quite common. 



In the Blue Mountain region, in eastern Oregon, I only found 

 them breeding in the single locality already mentioned, at an 

 altitude from 6000 to 7000 feet. During the winter months I 

 have occasionally observed a Red-naped Sapsucker in the Harney 

 Valley in Oregon, busily engaged in hunting for food amongst 

 tire willow thickets found growing along the banks of the small 

 streams, in that sage-brush-covered region, often long distances 

 away from timber of any size. In the young birds of the year 

 of Sphyraplcus variiis michalis^ the red or crimson markings 

 found about the head and throat of adult birds are usually want- 

 ing or else are replaced by a pale clai"et-colored tinge on the cor- 

 responding parts. The black on the back and wings is also 

 duller and not so deep, and the general pattern less distinct. 



3. Sphyrapicus ruber. Red-breasted Sapsucker. 



This handsome representative of the genus Sphyrapic7is seems 

 to be strictly confined to the Pacific Coast region, occurring only 

 as far eastward as the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains in Central and Northern California, and the Cascade 



