THE AEIZOKA WOODPECKER. ^9 



side of the St. Luis Mountains, near the international boundary line, in south- 

 western New Mexico, where Dr. E. A. Mearns, United States Army, collected 

 several specimens in June, 1892; but it does not appear to be very common 

 anywhere. It is probably a resident and breeds wherever found It was first 

 added to our fauna by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, who considers it as not uncommon 

 in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains, where he took several specimens 

 in the latter part of August, 1874, and states: "This rare Woodpecker is a 

 common species on the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains, where it was 

 one of the first birds that met my eye when the section where it abounds was 

 first entered. * * * So far as I could ascertain, at this season at least, it 

 is confined to the region of oaks, ranging from about 4,000 to 7,000 feet, thus 

 inhabiting a region about midway between the low valleys and the mountain 

 districts proper. Here they appeared to be perfectly at home, climbing over 

 the trunks of the oaks with the same ease and rapidity of movement that 

 distinguish the motions of the Downy or Hairy Woodpecker, though their 

 habits, in so far as they are at all peculiar, are perhaps best comparable to 

 those of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker of the South {Bryohates horealis), espe- 

 cially their custom of moving about in small companies of from five to fifteen, 

 though they were occasionally found singly or in pairs. 



"Wlien in pursuit of food, they almost always alighted near the base of 

 the trees, gradually ascending and making their way along the smaller limbs 

 and even out among the foliage, appearing to prefer to secure their food by a 

 careful search than by the hard labor of cutting into the wood in the way the 

 Hairy Woodpecker employs its strength. * * * I found them at all times 

 rather shy and gifted with very little of that prying curiosity which is seen in 

 some of the better-known species of this family; and if by chance I surprised 

 a band feeding among the low trees, a sharp warning note from some member 

 more watchful than the rest communicated alarm to the whole assembly, when 

 they took flight immediately, showing great dexterity in dodging behind 

 trunks and limbs, and making good their retreat by short flights from one tree 

 to another till they were out of sight." ^ 



Mr. F. Stephens found a nest containing young birds in the Santa Rita 

 Moxmtains on May 16, 1880, in a sycamore tree; and Mr. W. E. D. Scott records 

 another, found on May 27, 1884, in the Catalina Mountains, in an oak, aboixt 10 

 feet from the ground. He says: "The nest was much like that of the Hauy 

 Woodpecker, save that the opening was a little smaller. It contained three 

 young birds about two-thirds grown and half feathered."^ 



The habits of the Arizona Woodpecker are probably very similar to those 

 of the other members of the genus Bri/ohates, and this species seems to be 

 principally confined to the oak belt and the timber of the foothills along the few 

 streams found in the regions it inhabits. Lieut. H. C. Benson, Fourth Cavalry, 

 United States Army, as well as Dr. A. K. Fisher, met with it in the vicinity of 



• U. S. Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Vol. V, 1875, pp. 389, 390. 

 »The Auk, Vol. Ill, 1886, p. 426. 



