82 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



There are no eggs of the Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker in the United 

 States National Museum collection, and I am ixnable to give exact measure- 

 ments; but these are not likely to differ much in shape or size from those of the 

 American Tlu-ee-toed Woodpeckers. 



34. Sphyrapicus varius (Linn^<:us). 



YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKEE. 



Picus varius LiNNiEUS, Systema Naturne, ed. 12, 1, 1766, 176. 

 Sphyrapicus varms Baied, Birds of Nortli America, 1858, 103. 

 (B 85, C 302, E 369, C 446, IJ 402.) 



Geographical eange: Eastern aud northern North America; in the eastern parts 

 of the Dominion of Canada north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and 

 northern Ontario; thence in a northwesterly direction to Forts Resolution, Providence, and 

 Eae, on Great Slave Lake, and somewhat north of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territory, to 

 about latitude 63° 30' N.; west, to Fort Liard, in northeastern British Columbia, and in the 

 United States to North aud South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, and 

 Texas; south, in winter, to the West India Islands, and through Mexico to Guatemala, 

 Honduras and Costa Rica, Central America. Accidental in Greenland. 



The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, also known as "Red-throated Sapsucker," 

 "Squealing," and "Whining Woodpecker," is a common summer resident in 

 suitable localities in the eastern United States north of about latitude 42°, and 

 in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois it is known to breed as far south as 

 latitude 40°, while in the Smoky Mountains, in western North Carolina, it 

 reaches the extreme southern points of its breeding range in the southeastern 

 corner of Macon County, close to the northern border of Georgia, near latitude 

 35°. Here Mr. William Brewster, to whom the ornithologists of the United 

 States are greatly indebted for a large amount of valuable information, met with 

 this species sparingly, and shot two specimens, both incubating, in May, 1885. 

 It is claimed, however, that it has also been found breeding on the Medina River, 

 iiear San Antonio, Texas, by Dr. Heerman, and that its eggs were taken by him, 

 which would extend its breeding range still farther south. More recent observers 

 do not appear to confirm this, and report Sphyrapicus varius only as a migrant in 

 that vicinity. 



Near the Atlantic coast, in the maritime provinces of the Dominion of 

 Canada, it is rather rare, and I believe it has not yet been fotuid in Newfoundland 

 or Labrador, but it is more common in the interior. It is an abundant summer 

 resident in the northern New England States and northern New York; and in 

 the Adirondacks it appears to me to outnumber all other Woodpeckers. 



Mr. W. E. Loucks, of Peoria, Illinois, writes me: "I consider this bird to be 

 a tolerably common resident here; I have found it breeding, and a few may 

 remain here through the winter, as I have seen them quite late in the fall. On 

 May 18, 1891, while collecting in the river bottom, I discovered a nest of this 

 species in the trunk of a solid dead tree, about 15 feet from the ground. I gave 



