92 LIFE HISTORIES OF .NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



36. Sphyrapicus ruber (Gmelin). 



RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. 



Picus ruber Gmelin, Systema Naturre, 1, 1788, 429. 

 Sphyrapicus ruber Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 104. 



(B 87, C 302b, 303?, R 369&, C 448, U 403.) 



Geographical range: Pacific Coast districts, from northern Lower California 

 through California, Oregon, Washington, aud British Columbia; north to southern Alaska; 

 east mainly to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and on both sides of the Cascade 

 Mountaius iu Oregon, Wasliiugton, and British Columbia. 



The Red-breasted Sapsucker or Woodpecker is only a summer resident 

 from northern California northward, and a resident throughout the balance of 

 its range in the Sierra Nevadas, in the southern half of this State. Mr. H. W. 

 Henshaw found it near Fort Tejon in August, 1876, taking a young bird there 

 and seeing several others. Mr. F. Stephens writes me: "I saw one in June in 

 the San Bernardino Mountains, where it probably breeds, and consider it as a 

 rather rare winter visitant near the coast." 



Mr. L. Belding says: "A common summer resident in the fir forests of the 

 Sierra. Like nearly all the California Woodpeckers, it is found lower down 

 in the winter, then becoming rather common in the foothills, although rarely 

 seen in the valleys. I have seen a considerable number of its burrows in 

 Calaveras, Tuolumne, Alpine, Butte, and other counties. They are rarely 

 below 30 feet, and are often overlooked or found with some difficulty, as they 

 frequently are in bark-covered trees. It was noticed at Sierra Valley and 

 Donner Lake." 1 



Mr. Charles A. Allen, of Nicasio, California, writes me: "These Wood- 

 peckers are very fond of hanging to telegraph poles, and may be found 

 drumming along the line of the Central Pacific Railroad through the Sierra 

 Nevadas, where you can hear them beating a tattoo for hours at a time. If you 

 try to approach one, as soon as a certain distance is reached the bird will sidle 

 to the opposite side of the pole, and then keep peeping around the corner at 

 whatever has excited his suspicions, and as soon as it thinks it has a good 

 opportunity to escape it will fly away with a shrill cry, and keep the pole in 

 line between it and yourself for protection. Here they are very shy, and 

 remain very quiet if discovered. They feed their young on black ants and 

 other insects, which they pick out of decayed trees." 



Dr. Clinton T. Cooke found the Red-breasted Sapsucker moderately com- 

 mon in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, and took two sets of eggs from dead 

 cottonwoods, one set containing five fresh eggs, on May 12, 1888, the other, 

 also of five, on May 15, 1891, in which incubation had commenced. The 

 nesting sites were situated 20 and 25 feet from the ground. Mr. A. W. Anthony 

 writes me that this species was ratner common in Washington County, Oregon, 



1 Land Birds of the Pacific District, California Academy of Sciences, II, 1890, pp. 66, 67. 



