WOODPECKERS: Family Picidae [ 379 ] 



have found it commonly about the Klamath Lakes as well as about the 

 base of Mount McLoughlin. In the Rogue River Valley it is much less 

 common. Our breeding birds from that area are much nearer breeding 

 birds from southern California than those from northwestern Oregon. 



Its breeding habits and behavior are much like those of other sap- 

 suckers. About Fort Klamath it shows a marked preference for aspen 

 trees as nest sites. Eggs are laid in May, and there are six sets in the 

 Braly collection taken from this locality, May 11 and 2.2., 1930, contain- 

 ing from three to five eggs each. 



Williamson's Sapsucker: 



Sphyrapicus thyroideus thyroideus (Cassin) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Upper parts glossy black except white rump, large white 

 patch on wing coverts, and fine white spots on quills ; sides of head with two white 

 stripes; throat and breast black, with a median stripe of bright red; belly bright 

 yellow. Adult female: entire body barred with brown or black and white, except 

 for brown head and white rump and, rarely, a red median stripe on throat; chest 

 usually with a black patch; middle of belly yellow. Young male: similar to adult 

 male, but black duller, belly paler, throat stripe white. Young female: similar to 

 adult female, but markings and colors duller, belly whitish, and chest without 

 black patch. Length: 9.00-9.75, wing 5.15-5.50, tail 3.80-3.90, bill 1.00-1.2.0." 

 (Bailey) Nest: In both coniferous and deciduous trees. Eggs: 3 to 7, white. 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southern British Columbia through Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, and Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Winters south to Lower 

 California. In Oregon: Summer resident of summit and eastern slope of Cascades, 

 Blue Mountains, and isolated ranges of eastern Oregon on which are found yellow 

 pine forests. 



THE FIRST SPECIMEN of Williamson's Sapsucker known from Oregon was 

 taken by Newberry near Upper Klamath Lake, August 2.3, 1855. Baird 

 (Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence 1858) wrote about this specimen, and 

 Merrill (1888) also reported the species from Fort Klamath. Walker 

 (1917!)) reported it from Jefferson County, and Shelton (1917) from 

 Crescent Lake and Three Sisters. All of the published records, except 

 these last two and our own, refer to the Fort Klamath district, where 

 the species is indeed common. We have found it to be equally common 

 in the Blue Mountains, however; particularly in the yellow pine belt. 

 There are many specimens and field notes in the Biological collection and 

 files. These specimens and our own have been taken in extreme north- 

 eastern Oregon, on the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains south of Ash- 

 land, in and along the entire eastern slope of the Cascades, in the Warner 

 Mountains, in the wooded ranges between Klamath Falls and Lakeview, 

 and in the Maury Mountains east of Bend. We have no records for the 

 isolated ranges of southeastern Oregon from the Warner Mountains east- 

 ward to the Idaho line. 



The birds arrive in April (earliest date, March 3, Klamath County) 



