iSSS.] Merrill oti Birds of For/ Klamath. Ores^oii. 2QC 



out of eighteen western specimens (Montana, Nevada, Utah, California, 

 Oregon, and Alaska) only three exhibit the peculiarities just mentioned, 

 and these three are from Fort Klamath (Coll. Capt. Bendire). It is evident, 

 therefore, that if the Klamath birds represent a distinct form, that form 

 has a verj limited distribution. Until this is better known it seems 

 wisest to let the bird in question stand as P. arctictis. — W. B.] 



Sphyrapicus ruber. Common summer visitor, arriving about the mid- 

 dle of April and frequenting groves of aspens, being rarely seen among 

 pines. It is rather shy, and specimens were procured with some difficult^'. 

 The stomachs of several were examined and contained fragments of in- 

 sects only. It is a rather noisy bird, and its snarling or whining note is 

 often heard. In Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's N. A. Birds, Vol. II, p. 

 544, the bill of this species is said to be brownish wax color; in my fresh 

 specimens it was bluish black. 



[An adult female taken May II shows an apparent approach to 6". v. 

 Huchalis in having a well-marked red nuchal band separated from the red 

 of the crown by a blackish bar about .10 of an inch wide. This specimen 

 also has a good deal of black mixed with the red of the breast, and there is 

 a white stripe extending back along the side of the head below the eye, as 

 in 5. nuchalis.—\\\ B.] 



Sphyrapicus thyroideus. A not uncommon resident, but shy and very 

 suspicious. A noticeable habit here is the frequency with which it works 

 down as well as up a trunk, and when one dodges around a tree, in which, 

 by the way, it is unpleasantly expert, it is as apt to reappear twenty feet 

 below where it was last seen, as above. In searching for food it will often 

 work up and down a favorite tree repeatedly. In all its movements it is 

 quick and active, and gives one the impression of being thoroughly wide 

 awake, which impression the would-be collector is speedily convinced is 

 correct. This Woodpecker is a rather silent bird as to hammering, and is 

 especially partial to young pines, with the soft inner bark of which, and 

 fragments of insects, the stomachs of the adults are usually filled; but the 

 young birds appear to feed exclusively upon insects during the autumn. 



In preparing skins of this and the succeeding species, I have had no 

 difficulty in drawing the skin of the neck over the skull. Two nests, found 

 June 20 in large dead pines, were each at a height of about sixty feet; 

 they were inaccessible, but contained young, apparently nearly fledged, to 

 judge by the noise they made. Each nest I watched for some time: the 

 males brought food about twice as often as did the females, and frequently 

 removed the excrement of the young on leaving the nest, alighting on 

 the nearest tree for a moment to drop it and to clean their bills ; I did not 

 see either of the females remove any excreta. About four feet above one 

 of the holes was another occupied by a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches, but 

 neither species paid any attention to the other when they happened to 

 arrive with food at the same time. 



Melanerpes torquatus. None were seen until the morning of May 2, 

 when several were in and about the Fort, their very characteristic flight, 

 notes, and habits at once betraying their arrival. Rather uncommon 



