5G8 NDIITII AMERICAN IMRDS. 



close relationshiii to skins from tlio Kio Graiulo, and do not approach the 

 Guatemalan liivd in the peculiar cliaiaeters just ret'ei'red to, except in the 

 shortness and curvature of tiie bill. In one specimen there is an ajiproach 

 to the Jioj^otan in a lu- lerate degree of barrinjj; on the white inner edgings 

 of the tertials ; in the rest, liowever, they are continuously white. 



ILviiiTs. This handsome Woodpecker, distinguished both by the remark- 

 able beauty of its plumag(^ and tiie peculiarity of its provident habits, has a 

 widely exteiuled area of distribution, covering the Pacific Coast, from Oregon 

 throughout Mexico, in (,'entral America it is replaced by the variety 

 sfridfipcdiis, !X,id in New (Jreuada by the \iu: Jl((rit/ii/a, whila at Cape St. 

 Lucas we iind another local form, J/. Kiii/ustifrons. S(j far as we have the 

 means of ascertaining their haliits, we find no mention of any essential dif- 

 ferences in this respect anuing these races. 



Sucklcy and Coo])er did not meet with this bird in "Washington Territory, 

 and Mr. Lord met with it in abundance on his journev from Yreka to the 

 boundary line of British ("olumbm. j\Ir. Dresser did not observe it at San 

 Antonio. ]Mr. Clark met with it at the ('op])ermines, in New Mexico, in grccat 

 nund)ers, and feeding imncipally among the oaks. Lieutenant Couch found 

 it in the recesses of the Sierra Madre tpiite connuon and very tame, resort- 

 ing to high trees in search of its food. He did not meet with it east of the 

 Sierra ]\ladre. J)r. Kennerly first observed it in the vicinity of Santa (_'ruz, 

 where it was very freijuent on the mountain-slopes, always preferring the 

 tallest trees, but very shy, and it was with ditliculty that a .specimen 

 could be procured. ^Ir. Nuttall, who first added this bird to our fauna, 

 speaks of it as very ])lentiful in the forests around Santa Barbara. JJetween 

 that region and the Pueblo de los Angeles, Dr. Gambel met with it in great 

 abundance, although neither writer makes mention of any peculiarities of 

 habit. Mr. Emanuel Samuels met with it in and around I'etaluma, where 

 he obtained the eggs. 



Dr. Newberry, in his Report on the zoology of Lieutenant Williamson's 

 route (P. II. 11. I'eports, YJ), states that the range of this species extends to 

 the Colund)ia, and jierliajis above, to the westward of the Cascade Ilange, 

 though more common in California than in Oregon. It was not found in 

 the Des Chutes Basin, nor in the Cascade Mountains. 



In the list of the birds of Guatemala given by Mr. Salvin in the Ibis, this 

 Woodpecker is mentioned (I, p. L")7) as licing found in the Central Begion, 

 at Cidderas, on the Volcau de Fueg(j, in forests of evergreen oaks, where it 

 feeds on acorns. 



Dr. Heermann describes it as among the noisiest as well as the most abun- 

 dant of the Woodpeckers of California. He speaks of it as catching in.sects 

 on the wing, after the manner of a Flycatclier, and mentions its very ex- 

 traordinary habit of digging small holes in the bark of the pine ami the oak, 

 in which it stores acorns for its food in winter. He adds that one of these 

 acorns is jdaced in eacli hole, and is .so tightly fitted or driven in tliat it is 



