WOODPECKERS 213 



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 Fig . 279. Williamson Saps^er. 



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 5.25-5.50, tail 3.80-3.90, bill 1.00-1.20. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition and Canadian zones in the western 

 United States from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the west- 

 ern spurs of the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and northern coast ranges ; south 

 to New Mexico and Arizona ; winters in southern California, New Mexico, 

 western Texas, and Sierra Madre to Jalisco, Mexico. 



Nest. In pines and aspens, 5 to 60 feet from the ground. Eggs : 3 to 

 7, white. 



Food. Mainly insects and their larvae. 



The Williamson sapsucker is one of the handsomest birds one sees 

 in the forest, but ordinarily it flies from tree to tree before you and its 

 black back and white rump and wing patches are all that are seen. 

 After several weeks of such fleeting glimpses in the Sierra Nevada, 

 we were delighted by the discovery of a pair at home on their own 

 breeding grounds. The place, Lincoln Valley above Sierra Valley, 

 was close to the crest of the range, at an elevation of seven thousand 

 feet. The nest was in a stub in a group of huge Murray pines on 

 the edge of one of the most beautiful of the Sierra mountain meadows 

 a forest-encircled meadow brilliant with golden buttercups. It 

 seemed a right royal home for such noble birds. While I watched 

 the nest the male with his glossy coat, yellow belly, and red throat 

 came flying in, his bill bristling with insects; but feeling himself 

 observed, promptly sidled out of sight under the branches. 



GENUS CEOPHLCETJS. 



405a. Ceophloeus pileatus abieticola Bangs. NORTHERN 

 PILEATED WOODPECKER : COCK-OF-THE- WOODS. 



Head conspicuously crested ; bill longer than head, straight, with wedge- 

 like tip, beveled sides, and strong ridges, broader than high at base ; nos- 

 trils concealed by large nasal tufts ; feet peculiar, outer hind toe snorter 

 than outer front toe ; tarsus shorter than inner front toe and claw. 



Adult male. Brownish or grayish black ; entire top of head, occipital 

 crest, and malar stripe bright red ; chin and wide stripe on side of head 

 white, or sulphur yellow ; patches on wings and under wing coverts white ; 

 feathers of belly tipped with whitish. Adult female : similar, but fore- 

 part of head and malar stripe brown instead of red. Young : similar to 

 female, but crest salmon. Male : wing 9, tail 6.31, exposed culmen 2.05. 



Distribution. Heavily wooded regions of North America from the 

 southern Alleghanies northward to about latitude 63 and westward to 

 Pacific coast. 



