ZOOLOGY. 399 



to a hole, or gets under a limb, where the woodpecker cannot 

 conveniently strike him. Sometimes 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 

 Valley. 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 

 counterpart of the Eastern ' red-head,' and their rattling cry 

 is not unlike 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 delight 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 or twelve 

 thousand feet above the sea. 



318. Humming -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 swal- 

 low, but smaller, is common in the Colorado Basin. We have 

 a whip-poor-will, different from the one known in the Eastern 

 States. Two night-hawks are found in our State, one of them 

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

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



