70 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Fort Huachuca, and the latter also found it in the Chiricahua Mountains, south 

 of Fort Bowie. He tells me that on May 14, while collecting in Garden Canyon, 

 in the Huachuca Mountains, a mile or more above the Post garden, he found a 

 nest of this species in a large maple which overhung a stream. The cavity 

 was situated in a dry branch, about 20 feet from the ground, and was about a 

 foot in depth. It contained four young, which were still naked. 



I have only seen one set of eggs of this species, which were taken near 

 Fort Huachuca, Arizona, in May, 1890. They are usually three or four in 

 number; the shell is close grained and glossy; they measure 21.08 by 16 

 millimeters, or 0.83 by 0.63 inch, and resemble the eggs of Baird's Woodpecker 

 very closely. There are no specimens in the United States National Museum 

 collection. 



29. Xenopicus albolarvatus (Cassin). 



WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



Leuconerpes albolarvatus Cassin, .Proceedings Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 



October, 1850, 106. 

 Xenopicus albolarvatus Malherbe, Monograph of the Picidte, II, 1862, 221. 

 (B 81, C 295, R 366, C 442, U 399.) 



Geographical range: Higher mountain ranges of western North America; from 

 southern California north through Oregon and Washington to southern British Columbia; 

 east to western Nevada and western Idaho. 



The habitat of the White-headed Woodpecker is restricted to the higher 

 mountain ranges of the Pacific province. It is a bird of the pine and fir forests, 

 and is usually resident and breeds wherever found. It is most common at 

 altitudes of from 5,000 to 9,000 feet, but in winter it descends somewhat lower, 

 and may then be sometimes seen as low as 3,000 feet, and occasionally even 

 near sea level, Mr. S. Hubbard, jr., having taken a specimen near Gray's Harbor, 

 Washington, as recorded in "Zoe" (July, 1892, p. 141). It has been met with 

 at Similkameen, in the Cascade Mountains, in southern British Columbia, which 

 marks the northern limit of its known range; at Mount Idaho and near Fort 

 Sherman, Idaho, which marks the eastern, and in the Volcan Mountains, in Cali- 

 fornia, which is the most southern record for this species. Mr. Robert Ridgway 

 found it not uncommon near Carson City, while Mr. H. W. Henshaw observed 

 it at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and I met with it in the Blue Mountains, near Camp 

 Harney, Oregon, where it was rarely seen. Its center of abundance appears 

 to be found in the higher Sierra Nevadas, in California, and in the Cascade 

 Mountains, in Oregon. Both Dr. J. C. Merrill, United States Army, and myself 

 found it common at Fort Klamath in winter, but none apparently bred near the 

 Post. The only nest found be me there was on the slopes of Crater Lake Moun- 

 tain, about 12 miles north of Fort Klamath, at an estimated altitude of about 

 6,500 feet. The nesting site was excavated in an old pine stump, about 15 feet 

 from the ground, and contained four slightly incubated eggs on May 29, 1883. 



