ZOOLOGY. 163 



they betake themselves to the tops of the highest trees in the vicinity. They at that season 

 subsist principally upon the larvee of insects, found in the cracks and fissures of the " red pine " 

 of the country. I dissected a specimen killed at Fort Dalles, January 9, 1855, finding the coats 

 of the stomach (gizzard) very thick and muscular, its cavity filled with the white larvae of 

 insects, together with fine gravel. The thick nature of the coats of the stomach renders it well 

 adapted to the digestion of berries and seeds, which probably form a large portion of the bird's 

 sustenance during the warmer months. — S. 



'S> 



COLAPTES MEXICANUS, Swain sou. 



Red-sliafted Flicker. 



Colaptes mexicanus, Sw. Syn. Mex. Birds, in Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 440.— Ib. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 31.5.— Newberky, 



Zool. Cal. & Or. Route, 91; P. R. R Rep. VI, 1857.— Baird, Geu. Rep. Birds, p. 120. 

 Picua mexicanus, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 174 ; pi. 416.— Ib. Birds America, IV, 1842, 295 ; pi. 274. 

 Colaptes collaris, ViooKS, Zool. Jour. IV, Jan. 1829, 353. — Ib. Zool. Beechey's Voy. 1839, 24 ; pi. ix. 

 Picus Tubricatus, Wagler, Isis, 1829, v. May, 516. "(Liclitensteia Mus. Berol )" 



Sp. Cn. — Shafts and under surfaces of wing and tail feathers orange red. A red patch on each side the cheek; nape without 

 red crescent; sometimes very faint indications laterally. Throat and stripe beneath the eye bluish ash. Back glossed with 

 purplish brown. Female without the red cheek patch. Length about 12.50 to 14 inches; extent, 21 inches; wing over 6J 

 inches. Female smaller. Iris dark brown, bill black, feet greyish. 



Additional Characters. — Spots on the belly, a crescent on the breast, aud interrupted transverse bands on the back, black. 



Nab. — Western Korth America from the Black Hills to Pacific. 



This bird, called "highholder," "flicker," or "clape," by emigrants from various parts of 

 the States, and even "yellow hammer" by some, though it has not a particle of yellow in its 

 plumage, is so abundant along the western coast, as its closely allied cousin, known by the 

 same names, is on the eastern side of the Mississippi. It also resembles that bird so exactly in 

 habits and notes that, as Nuttall observed, the description of one will apply with exactness to 

 the other. It is a constant resident in "Washington Territory, at least west of the Cascade 

 mountains. I observed them already burrowing out the holes for their nests in April at the 

 Straits of De Fuca. About June 1st, I found a nest containing seven young nearly fledged, 

 which already showed in the male the red moustache, distinguishing it from the female. Their 

 food consists at all times more of insects and fruits than of the larvas found by other wood- 

 peckers in trees, and they spend much of their time on the ground. — C. 



Extremely common in the timbered districts of Washington Territory. Habits, voice, calls, 

 &c., precisely similar to those of the yellow hammer of the eastern States. 



Woodpeckers, as a group, are abundantly represented in both of our northwest Territories. 

 The most abundant species, I think, is the C. Mexicanus; next the P. Gardneri; Harris' and 

 Lewis' stand next and about equal; P. Ruber and Melanerpes alholarvatus about equal, but 

 scarce. I have never seen the Californian woodpecker ^' 3felanerpes formicivorus" so far north 

 as Oregon, although there are manj^ acorn-bearing oaks, especially at Fort Dalles, to aflbrd it 

 winter subsistence. Still I am by no means prepared to say that the species does not extend 

 into Oregon; on the contrary, I am inclined to think that it will j'et be found as far north as 

 the Columbia river. — S. 



