522 NORTH AMERICAN WRDS. 



cuntinuous across, sometimes tliu others ; always interrupted along tlie 

 shaft, and even reduced to rounded spots of black on one or both webs. No 

 distinct liands are visilde on raising tlie crissum. Tlie black ptitch on inner 

 wel) of outer tail-featlier near tlie base increases on the second and third, 

 on the latter leaving the end uidy witii an oblique white i)atch. The bands 

 on the under surface have a tendency to a transversely cordate and inter- 

 rupted, rather than a continuous, linear arrangement. 



Young l)irds iiave the whole top of head red, as in P. scalaris, with or 

 without white at the base ol' the red. The white nasal tufts and other 

 characters will, however, distinguish them. 



This bird, though widely diffenMit in apjiearance from scala7'is, may never- 

 theless, without any violence, be regarded as but one extreme of a species 

 of which the lighter examples of smluriH {hairdi) are the other, the tran- 

 sition towards nuttaUi being through var. smlaris, var. (jraijsoni, and var. lu- 

 casunus, each in that succession showing a nearer ai)proach to the distinctive 

 features of nHtUdlL We have not seen any intermediate specimens, how- 

 ever. The pure white instead of smoky-brown nasal tufts, and their greater 

 develo[)ment, arc tlie only characters which show a marked ditt'erence from 

 the varieties of sailaviti ; lait the other differences are nothing more than 

 an extension of the black markings and restriction of the red in the male, 

 the result of a melanistic tendency in the Pacific region. 



Habit.s. This species was first discovered by Dr. Gand)el near Los An- 

 geles, C'al., and described by him in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia 

 Academy. Afterwards, in his jiaper on the birds of California, published in 

 the Academy's Journal, mistaking it for the /'. smlaris of Wagler, he fur- 

 nished a fuller description of the bird and its habits, and gave with it illus- 

 trations of both sexes. So fixr as now known, it ajipears to be C(jnfined to 

 the regions in California and Oregon west of the Coast Kange, extending as 

 far south as San Diego, representing, in its distribution on the Pacific, the 

 P. horenlis of ^the Atlantijo States. Que specinitui in the Smitifeonisin collec- 

 tions was obtained on Um]K(ua liiver, in Oregon Territory; the others at 

 Santa Clara, San Francisco, Petaluma, liodega, and Yreka, in California. Dr. 

 Woodhouse says, in his IJeport on the birds of the Zuni and Colorado ex^DC- 

 dition, that he has only seen this bird in California, from which region he 

 has examined numerous sjwcimens. Dr. Heerniann, in his lieport on the birds 

 of Lieutenant Williamson's ex])edition, .states that this Wood])ecker is occa- 

 sionally found in the mountains of Northern California, but that it is much 

 more almndant in the valleys. Dr. (iambel found it abundant in California 

 at all seasons. IL^ describes it as having the usual hal)its of Woodpeckers, 

 familiarly examining the fence-rails and orchard-trees for its hisect-fare. 

 lie found it breeding at Santa liai-bara, ami on the 1st of May discovered a 

 nest containing young in the dead stumj) of an oak, about fifteen feet from 

 the ground. The hole for entrance was remarkably small, but inside ajipeared 

 large and deep. The parents were constantly bringing insects and larva). 



