72 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



"Xenopicus albolarvatus. — This interesting Woodpecker was first observed 

 November 9 ; by December it had become rather abundant, and so continued 

 until the latter part of February, but after the middle of March none were seen. 

 During the breeding season careful search failed to reveal its presence near the 

 fort, nor was it found in the higher mountains north of the valley in July and 

 August. One would think that the peculiar coloration of the White-headed 

 Woodpecker would make it very conspicuous and its detection an easy matter, 

 but this is by no means the case, at least about Fort Klamath. On most of the 

 pines in this vicinity there are many short stubs of small broken branches 

 projecting an inch or two from the main trunk. When the sun is shining these 

 projections are lighted up in such a manner as to appear quite white at a little 

 distance, and they often cast a shadow exactly resembling the black body of 

 the bird. In winter, when a little snow has lodged on these stubs, the resemblance 

 is even greater, and almost daily I was misled by this deceptive appearance, 

 either mistaking a stub for a bird or the reverse. 



"I have rarely heard this Woodpecker hammer, and even tapping is rather 

 uncommon. So far as I have observed, and during the winter I watched it 

 carefully, its principal supply of food is obtained in the bark, most of the pines 

 having a very rough bark, scaly and deeply fissured. The bird uses its bill as 

 a crowbar rather than as a hammer or chisel, prying off the successive scales 

 and layers of bark in a very characteristic way. This explains the fact of its 

 being such a quiet worker, and, as would be expected, it is most often seen near 

 the base of the tree, where the bark is thickest and roughest. It must destroy 

 immense numbers of Scolytidce, whose larvae tunnel the bark so extensively, and 

 of other insects that crawl beneath the scales of bark for shelter during winter. 

 I have several times imitated the work of this bird by prying off the successive 

 layers of bark, and have been astonished at the great number of insects, and 

 especially of spiders, so exposed. As the result of this, and of its habit of so 

 searching for food, the White-headed Woodpeckers killed here were loaded with 

 fat to a degree I have never seen equaled in any land bird, and scarcely 

 surpassed by some Sandpipers in autumn. 



"Though not shy, and with care generally approachable to within a short 

 distance, it is watchful and. suspicious, and seems to know very well what is 

 going on, even if it does not see fit to fly away, though it is more apt to do this 

 than to dodge around the trunk. The flight is direct, and rather slow and heavy. 

 Its skull is noticeably less hard and dense than that of Bryobcdes harrisii or Picus 

 arcticus. During the winter it is silent, the only sound I have heard it make 

 being a harsh screech when wounded." 1 



Since then the Doctor has also found it during the winter of 1894-95 near 

 Fort Sherman, Idaho, where it is not uncommon, and probably breeds in the 

 mountains in the vicinity. 



1 The Auk, Vol. V, 1888, p. 253. 



