NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 275 



'4076. NARROW-FRONTED WOODPECKER. Melanerpea formicivorus oo- 



ffustifrous Baird. Geog. Dist. Southern Lower California. 



A smaller race with a brighter sulphur-yellow throat and narrow frontal band 

 than the California Woodpecker. It is an inhabitant of the more southern portions 

 of Lower California and was first described by Baird in 1870. Mr. L. Belding found 

 it common at Miraflores, and abundant in the Victoria Mountains. On June 3, 1887, 

 Mr. M. Aboott Frazar found a nest of this species in the Sierra de la I aguna, Lower 

 California. The eggs, four in number, are now in Mr. William Brewster's collection; 

 these are white, with rather a dull gloss, varying in shape from blunt ovate to broad 

 elliptical oval, measuring .95x.75, .94x.74, .89x.77, .89x.76 inches. Mr. Frazar in* 

 formed Major Bendire that as nearly as he remembered the nesting place was in a 

 dead pine stump, not a great distance from the ground. 



408. LEWIS'S WOODPECKER. Melanerpes torquatus (Wilt,., Geog. Dist 

 Western United States, from the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 

 coast. 



In most of the wooded, mountainous regions of the West, from the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific, Lewis's Woodpecker is a common bird. About Fort 

 Klamath, Oregon, Dr. Merrill notes it as rather uncommon during the summer, 

 nesting usually near the tops of tall dead pines, especially isolated ones, from 

 which they can obtain a good view of passing insects, which they will often follow 

 to a considerable distance. The general habits of this species are similar to those of 

 the Red-headed Woodpecker. It is found in greater or less abundance in the pine 

 and oak districts of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, etc., where the nests 

 are burrowed, preferredly in dead trees, at all heights from the ground. The eggs 

 are five to nine in number, six or seven being the most common number, and, like all 

 those of the Woodpeckers, are white and glossy. The average measurement of one 

 hundred and seventy-one specimens in the U. S. National Museum collection is about 

 1.03X.80 inches; the largest specimen 1.18x.88, the smallest .94x.65 inches. 



409. RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. Melanerpes carolinus (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains, south to Florida and 

 Central Texas. 



This Woodpecker is regarded by some as the most beautiful of the smaller spe- 

 cies of its tribe, and is known to many as the "Zebra Bird," from the back and wings 

 being closely banded with black and white; the whole crown and nape are scarlet 

 in the male, partly so in the female. Under parts grayish, mixed with yellowish- 

 white, reddening on the belly. A bird generally of retired habits, seeking the 

 deepest and most unfrequented forests to breed. When engaged in hammering for 

 insects it frequently emits a short, singular note, which Wilson likens to the bark of 

 a small dog. The note is repeated twice, and resembles the hoarse utterance of the 

 syllables choir, chow. Prof. D. E. Lantz states that this species in the vicinity of Man- 

 hattan, Kansas, exhibits the same familiarity as shown by the Flicker, the Red- 

 headed and Downy Woodpeckers. About a dozen nests were observed, the excava- 

 tions ranging usually less than twenty feet from the ground. One nest in a burrow 

 of a large dead limb of an elm tree was found May 12, and contained five eggs. /The 

 earliest date for a full set was May 10. The birds were very much attached to their 

 nests, so much so that in several cases it was necessary to remove them with the 

 hand before the eggs could be secured. The eggs being taken, they almost im- 

 mediately begin excavating another nest cavity for the second set, always in the 



