88 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



35. Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis Baird. 



RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. 



Sphyrapicus varius var. nuchalis Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 103. 

 (B 86, C 302a, R 369a, C 447, U 402a.) 



Geographical range : Rocky Mountains aud adjacent ranges from western Texas, 

 Arizona, and New Mexico; north through Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana 

 and Idaho, into .the British provinces of Alberta and eastern British Columbia to about 

 latitude 54° and probably farther; west to the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon, 

 and the Sierra Nevada in California, and in winter into Lower California and northern 

 Mexico. Casually east to western Kansas (Wallace). 



The breeding range of the Red-naped Sapsucker or Woodpecker appears 

 to be principally confined to the higher mountain ranges of the interior from 

 Colorado northward, as already indicated, and west to the eastern slopes of the 

 Cascade Mountains in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. It is ques- 

 tionable if it breeds, to any extent at least, in the Sierra Nevadas, in northern 

 California, or in the mountains of New Mexico, Arizona, and western Texas, 

 where it seems to be only a migrant. Dr. Elliott Coues, however, in the 

 "Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences," January, 

 1866, records the Red-naped Sapsucker as a permanent and abundant resident 

 in Arizona; but more recent observations made in various parts of this terri- 

 tory do not confirm this statement, and I believe it is only a rather rare migrant. 

 Its summer home appears to be restricted to the borders of the numerous 

 streams found throughout the mountains of the interior, including the eastern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountain system and those of the Cascades, at altitudes 

 from 5,000 to 10,000 feet. It usually arrives on its breeding grounds about the 

 first half of May, and the fall migration commences about October 1. Its gen- 

 eral habits are similar to those of the preceding species, and in the fruit-growing 

 sections Avithin its range, in southern Utah, for instance, it is said to do consider- 

 able damage to the orchards in the early spring and again in the fall, tapping 

 the peach and apple trees for sap in the same manner as Sphyrapicus varius does 

 in the East. Its principal food consists of small beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, 

 ants, and such larva3 as are to be found under the loose bark of trees, as well as 

 of Avild berries of different kinds. 



Mr. F. Stephens writes me: " Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis is A^ery rare in 

 southern California, On NoA^ember 2, 1891, a neighbor of mine shot a female 

 of the year and brought it to me; he said that it was boring holes in the apple 

 trees and had damaged one considerably. This is the only California instance 

 of sap-sucking (in orchards) known to me." In a more recent letter he informs 

 me that he met Avith this Woodpecker on Lassen Creek, in Modoc County, Cali- 

 fornia, at an altitude of 5,600 feet, on August 2, 1894, obtaining both parents 

 and a family of young of the year 



