54 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



following day the same one or another near the same place. April 24, 1906, I 

 observed a lone individual flying along the Gould ditch near Clovis. July 25, 

 19 12, another was seen perched on a dead branch over a muddy slough in the 

 Kings River bottom above Centerville. 



Willow Woodpecker. Dryobates pubescens turati (Malherbe). 



Willow Woodpeckers are not very common anywhere in the Fresno district, 

 being most abundant, from what I can learn, in the oaks throughout the region 

 south of Riverdale. The species was observed near this place July 13, 191 1. 

 Individuals are to be met with almost anywhere in the valley during the winter 

 months, but nearly always only a single bird is observed. They frequent cotton- 

 woods and willows along ditches and canals, but being of rather a quiet nature, 

 are easily overlooked. They crawl along the lower sides of branches, now and 

 then tapping gently or uttering a half subdued ''squeep". 



This species has been observed near Fresno, March 6, 1903, at Clovis, De- 

 cember 17, 1907, below Academy on Dry Creek, March 2O, 1906, and along 

 the river near Lane's Bridge, v/here a few may possibly breed. 



NuTTALL Woodpecker. Dryobates nuttalli (Gambel). 



Miss Winifred Wear records this little woodpecker from Laton, April 17, 

 1909, and from Riverview, April 2^], 1907. It occurs not uncommonly in the oak 

 belt of the hills along the eastern part of the valley. 



Red-breasted Sapsucker. Sphyrapicus ruber (Gmelin). 



Among the birds in the collection of Miss Winifred Wear there is a hne 

 specimen of this sapsucker that came into her possession November 16, 1910, 

 under rather unusual circumstances. One of the children in her school, know- 

 ing of her interest in birds, brought the specimen, still alive, to the scnooiroom. 

 The child was a foreigner and was unable to giv<t a very clear account of its cap- 

 ture, but said that her brother-in-law had had the bird picketed in his yard for 

 several days. It would probably not have lived many days longer, as there was a 

 bad wound in one wing. The bird, a female, was identified by Mr. Grinnell as 

 Sphyrapicus variiis daggetti; but the A. O. U. Committee has not approved of 

 this name. 



A single bird was seen by the author in one of a row of walnut trees oy the 

 roadside several miles northeast of Fresno on December 25, 1911. This is the 

 only one ever seen by him in the valley. 



Californl\ Woodpecker. Melanerpes formicivonis bairdi Ridgway. 



This is another bird that, through lack of suitable environment, occurs as a 

 straggler only, within the limits of the region under consideration. A noisy, 

 abundant, and conspicuous resident of almost the entire foothill region along the 

 eastern side of the valley, it is not surprising that occasionally a venturesome in- 

 dividual strays below the usual habitat, but even in such cases it seldom wanders 

 far. Usually its presence in the valley is noted along streams where oak trees 

 extend their range farther out toward the plains than elsewhere. Along Kings 

 River this woodpecker is often seen near Centerville, and sometimes follows 

 down the river bottom much farther, but it has never been recorded as seen in 

 the treeless areas and among the vineyards. 



