132 KESOUECES OF CALIFOEXIA. 



ing them with their beaks. When the squirrel sees the prop- 

 erty-owner coming, he hurries to a hole, or gets under a limb, 

 where the woodpecker cannot conveniently strike him. Some- 

 times Indians and even white men are glad to avail themselves 

 of the woodpecker's stores as a protection against starvation. 



The length of the bird is nine inches ; the anterior part of 

 the body above and the tail are black ; the belly, rump, a patch 

 on the forehead, and a collar on the neck, white; and the 

 crown, and a short occipital crest, red. Dr. Newberry says : 

 " This beautiful bird, the rival and representative of the red- 

 headed woodpecker [of the Atlantic slope of the continent], is 

 an inseparable element of the scenery of the Sacramento val- 

 ley. While we were encamped under the wide-spreading oaks 

 of that region, I had a very good opportunity to study their 

 habits, as they would come into the trees in the shade of which 

 I was lying. They are not shy, and frequently came round in 

 considerable numbers. Their manners are the very counter- 

 part of the Eastern ' red-head,' and their rattling cry is not 

 unhke his. Like the ' red-head,' I have seen two or three of 

 them amuse themselves by playing 'hide and seek' around 

 some trunk or branch ; and like the ' red-head,' too, they de- 

 light to sit on the end of a dry limb, and fly off in circles for 

 the insects which come near them." 



Lewis's woodpecker is in color dark glossy green above and 

 gray beneath, with dark-crimson patches on the sides of the head 

 and belly. The feathers on the under part are bristle-like. It 

 prefers an elevated home, and is found ten and twelve thou- 

 sand feet above the sea. 



§ 101. Himvining -Birds. — There are four humming-birds in 

 California, all different from those found in the Atlantic states. 

 The white-throated swift, a bird resembling the swallow, but 

 smaller, is common ii; the Colorado Basin. We have a whip- 

 ])Oor-will different from the one known in the Eastern states. 

 Two night-hawks are found in our state, one of them appear- 

 ing on this slope of the continent only in the vicinity of the 

 Colorado, and on the other slope not extending for beyond the 



