212 WOODPECKERS 



dusky or yellowish. Young : duller, and color pattern less distinct, the red 

 replaced by claret brown. Length : 8.50-9.25, wing (male) 4.70-5.05, tail 

 3.10-3.50, bill 1.00-1.08. 



Remarks. The young of ruber is similar to the same stage of nuchalis, 

 but can be distinguished usually by the dull reddish suffusion over its 

 head, neck, and chest ; while the adult may be recognized in the field by 

 the absence of black chest patch and white stripes on the sides of the 

 head. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition and Canadian zone forests of the 

 Pacific coast region from southern Oregon to northern Lower California ; 

 east to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and eastern slope of the 

 Cascades. 



Nest. In aspens, 15 to 25 feet from the ground. Eggs : 5 or 6, white. 



Food. Beetles, spiders, ants, grasshoppers, centipeds, and larvae, wild 

 berries, sap, and inner bark. 



In the Sierra Nevada the red-breasted sapsucker is one of the 

 common woodpeckers. When riding through the forests there we 

 often got a flash of color from its red head and neck as it flew before 

 our horses. On a fir slope above Donner one July day we discovered 

 chips at the foot of an old stub heavily covered with yellow lichen, 

 and rapping on it sent the mother flying and roused a clamorous 

 family of young. 



The last week in July at Donner Lake we found a family of dull 

 colored young going about with their mother, a handsome old bird 

 with dark red head and breast. They flew around in a poplar grove 

 for a while, and then gathered in a clump of willows, where four 

 young clung to the branches and devoted themselves to eating sap. 

 The old bird flew about among them and seemingly cut and scraped 

 off the bark for them, at the same time apparently trying to teach 

 them to eat the sap for themselves ; for though she would feed them 

 at other times she refused to feed them there, and apparently watched 

 carefully to see if they knew enough to drink the sap. When the 

 meal was finally over and the birds had flown, we examined the 

 branch and found that lengthwise strips of bark had been cut off, 

 leaving narrow strips like fiddle-strings between. At the freshly cut 

 places the sap exuded as sweet as sugar, ready for the birds to suck. 



In winter the red-breasted visits the cities, being seen, Mr. Grin- 

 nell says, in pepper- trees even on noisy city streets. He has found 

 it in Pasadena from October till the last of March. 



40 3 a. S. r. notkensis (Suckow). NORTHERN RED-BREASTED SAT- 

 SUCKER. 



Similar to S. ruber, but darker, and belly olive yellow. 



Distribution. Northwest coast region of North America, from Sitka 

 south in California through the Santa Cruz Mountains. 



404. Sphyrapicus thyroideus (Cass.). WILLIAMSON SAPSUCKER. 

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



