THE EEDNAPED SAPSUCKER. 91 



ber of eggs mark a, full set, presumably the nest of one of last year's birds. 

 Fresh eggs may be looked for in Colorado from June 1 to 15, and should the 

 first set be taken, a second one may generally be found from ten to fifteen 

 days later; and, as a rule, the second nesting site will not be greatly distant from 

 the first one. Several nests of this species may be found within a short distance 

 of each other in the same aspen grove." 



My own limited observations during the breeding season bear out Mr. 

 Gale's statements completely, viz, that this species breeds exclusively in live 

 aspen trees. Dr. J. C. Merrill, United States Army, in " Bulletin Nuttall Club," 

 October, 1881, states, however, that he found a nest of these birds in a dead 

 Cottonwood tree in Montana. In southwestern Oreg'on, in the mountain jjarks of 

 the Klamath Lake reg'ion, these birds breed sparingly at as low an altitude as 

 5,000 feet, and it is more than probable that at a higher one, near the summit of 

 the Cascade Range, they may be quite common. 



In the Blue Mountain region, in eastern Oregon, I found them breed- 

 ing only in the single locality already mentioned, at an altitude from 6,000 to 

 7,000 feet. During the winter months, I have occasionally observed a Red- 

 naped Sapsucker in the Harney Valley, in Oreg'on, busily engaged in hunting 

 for food among the willow thickets found growing along the banks of the small 

 streams in that sagebrush-covered region, often long distances away from 

 timber of any size. In Spliyrapicus varius nucJiaUs the red or crimson markings 

 found about the head and throat of adult birds are usually wanting in the 

 young- birds of the year, or else are replaced by a pale, claret-colored tinge on 

 the corresponding parts. The black on the back and wings is also duller and 

 not so .deep, and the general pattern less distinct. 



I believe that both sexes assist in the labor of excavating the nesting site, 

 the female appearing to do the greater part of the work, however, which is 

 frequentl}^ very laborious, and that the male also shares the duties of incubation, 

 which lasts about fourteen days. The number of eggs to a set varies from three 

 to six, usually four or five; these are mostly ovate in shape, a few are elliptical 

 ovate; they are pure white in color; the shell is fine g'rained and moderately 

 glossy. 



The average measurement of thirty-five specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 22.78 by 17.07 milHmetres, or about 0.90 by 0.67 

 inch. The largest egg of the series measures 24.13 by 18.29 millimetres, or 

 0.95 by 0.72 inch ; the smallest, 20.83 by 16.76 milUmetres, or 0.82 by 0.66 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 19415 (not figured), from a set of three eggs, was 

 taken by the writer on the summit of the Blue Mountains, in Grant County, 

 Oregon, as previously described, on June 12, 1877. 



