White-headed and Great Gray Woodpeckers 597 



them. It confines its attentions mainly to the upper sections of the trees, and 

 although not particularly shy, its habitual restlessness makes it difficult to 

 approach. Its flight is " rapid, gliding, and deeply undulating," and is often 

 protracted for a considerable distance. Its food consists almost entirely of 

 wood-boring insects and their larvae, and the nest-hole is usually excavated in a 

 coniferous tree. 



White-headed Woodpecker. In the higher mountain ranges of western 

 North America, among the forests of pine and fir, occurs the home of the remark- 

 able White-headed Woodpecker (Xenopicus albolarvatus], the only representa- 

 tive of its genus. It shares with the Sapsuckers the deficient hyoid apparatus, 

 its tongue being less extensile than in most other members of its family. About 

 nine inches in length, the plumage is uniform black, except the head, neck, 

 upper part of the chest, and the base of the wing-quills, which are white, the head 

 being further set off by a band of bright red across the back. It is resident or 

 nearly so where found, and is described as a rather silent, more sedate, bird than 

 most of its relatives, its only note being a sharp witt-witt. Of its habits as ob- 

 served near Fort Klamath, Oregon, the late Dr. J. C. Merrill said: " I have rarely 

 heard this Woodpecker hammer, and even tapping is rather uncommon. So 

 far as I have observed, and during the winter I have watched it closely, its 

 principal supply of food is obtained in the bark, most of the pines having a very 

 rough bark, scaly and deeply fissured. The bird uses its bill as a crowbar rather 

 than as a hammer or chisel, prying off the successive scales and layers of bark 

 in a very characteristic way. This explains the fact of its being such a quiet 

 worker, and, as would be expected, it is most often seen at the base of the tree, 

 where the bark is thickest and roughest. It must destroy immense numbers 

 of Scalytida, whose larvae tunnel the bark so extensively, and of other insects 

 that crawl beneath the scales of bark for shelter during winter." The young, 

 according to a correspondent of Bendire's, are fed entirely on large black ants 

 which cover the dead pines and stumps at this season. 



Great Gray Woodpecker. Passing over the small, very short-tailed Cardinal 

 Woodpeckers (Dendropicus} of Africa, the Pygmy Woodpeckers (lyngipicus) 

 which are widely spread throughout the east and reappear in Senegambia 

 and northeast Africa, the Bay Woodpeckers (Pyrrhopicus) of Indian regions, 

 the Barred Woodpecker (Miglyptes) of Burma and the Malay countries, and the 

 Rufous Woodpeckers (Micropternus) of the Oriental regions, which are not of 

 particular or striking interest, we come to Hargitt's second division of the family; 

 namely, those in which the neck is very much narrowed and covered with com- 

 pressed plumage, thus making the head appear extraordinarily large. Here 

 are included the largest representatives of the whole family, among them the 

 splendid Great Gray Woodpecker (Mulleripicus or Hemilophus pulvemlentus), 

 which ranges from the base of the Himalayas, throughout Burma, Cochin China, 

 Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. This bird, the only member of its genus, is nearly 

 or quite twenty inches in length, with a bill three inches long. In color the plu- 

 mage is ashy gray, paler on the head, which is ornamented on the back with a 

 large patch of crimson, while the chin, throat, and fore neck are saffron-yellow 



