r,62 NOllTIl AMERICAN BIRDS. 



lu'liiiid the eyos, dark criiiison. Holly blood-roil, streaked finely with hoary whitish. 

 \Viii},'s niid tail eiiliroly iiiiilbriii daik fi'lussy-green. Female siniiliir. Length iiboiit 10.50; 

 wing, (l.")0. Young wilhont the nnelial eollar, and th(! red of head replaced by blaek. 

 IIau. Western Ameriea IVoni Black Hills to Tfteilie. 



The peculiiuities in the tViithei's of the under parts have already been ad- 

 verted to. This structure ap]ioars to be e.ssentially connected with tlie red 

 featiiers, since these have tlie same texture in the other species ol' the genus, 

 wlierever the color occurs. The remark may perhaps apply generally to the 

 red i'eatliers of most, if not all, Woodjieckers, and may be connected with 

 some chemical or physical condition yet to be determined. 



Habits. Lewis's Woodpecker woidd seem to have a distribution through- 

 out the Pacific Coast, from tlie sea-shore to the mountains, and from Puget 

 Sound to the Ciulf of California, and extending to the eastern border of the 

 (heat Plains, within the limits of the United States. They were first ob- 

 served by Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, in their memorable journey to the 

 Pacific. Subseiiuently Mr. Nuttall met with them in his westward journey, 

 in tlie central ciiain of tlie IJocky ^lountains. Tliis was in the month of 

 July. Among the cedar and pirn; woods of Pear IJiver, on the edge of Upper 

 California, he found them inhabiting the decayed trunks of the pine-trees, 

 and already feeding tlieir young. Afterwards, at the close of August, he met 

 them in flocks on tiie plains, sixty miles up the Wahlamet. He describes 

 them as very unlikj Wood[)eckers in their liabits, perching in dense ilocks, 

 like Starlings, neitlier clind)ing branches nor tapping in the manner of their 

 tribe, but darting after insects and devouring berries, like Thrushes. He saw 

 them but seldom, either in the dense forests of the Columbia or in any set- 

 tled part of California. 



Townsend ;5peaks of fheir arriving about the firet of May on Bear River 

 and the Columbia. Both sexes incubate, according to his observations. 



Dr. (Jambel first observed this Woodpecker in a belt of oak timber near 

 the Mission of St. Crabriel, in California, and states tliat it was abundant. 

 H(! also describes its liabits tis ])eculiar, and unlike the generality of Wood- 

 peckers. Dr. Heermann, too, speaks of finding it in all the parts of Cali- 

 fornia which he visited. 1 )r. Xewberry, in his Notes on tlie zoiilogy of 

 Lieutenant Williamson's expedition, refers to it as most unlike the Cali- 

 fornia Woodjiecker in the region it occupies and in its retiring habits. He 

 describes it as seeming to choose, for its favorite haunts, the evergreen 

 forests upon the rocky declivities of the (Cascade and Itocky Mountains. 

 He first observed it in Northern California, but subsequently noticed it in 

 tlie mountains all the way to the Columbia. Thougli often seen in low ele- 

 vations, it was evidently al])ine in its preferences, and was found most fre- 

 quently near tlie line of perpetual snow; and when crossing the snow lines, 

 in the mountain-passes, it was often oliserved flying far above the party. He 

 describes it as being always shy, and difficult to shoot. 



1 )r. S. W. Woodhouse describes this species as being common in the Indian 



