1924] Swarth : Birds and Mammals of the Skeena Bwer Region 343 



all in birch or poplar, mostly dead txees, and no nest was less than 

 fifty. feet above the ^onnd. One male bird collected had the abdomen 

 bare of feathers. It obvionsly had been incubating eggs. 



The first yonng bird was seen flying about on July 7. Shortly 

 after, the species became notably scarce and few of the birds were 

 observed through July and August. This, perhaps, was from some 

 change in habits rather than a shifting of population. The first week 

 in September numbers appeared once more. Several factors con- 

 tribute to bring the sapsuckers conspicuously in view. They are 

 a.ssiduous drummers, on dead trees or on telegraph poles; they have 

 querulous and noisy call notes, uttered near the nest ; they are active 

 flycatchers, using a telegraph pole or an isolated tree in a clearing as 

 a base from which to fly. 



Fourteen specimens collected (nos. 42126-42139). These are 

 exactly like coastal birds in coloration, but differ in average bill struc- 

 ture. Compared •with specimens from the nearby coast of southeastern 

 Alaska, the Hazelton birds haA'e the bill noticeably short and heavy. 

 There is some overlapping in the two lots, for some Alaskan specimens 

 have bills as short as some Hazelton birds. None of the latter series, 

 however, has the long, slender bill that is generally characteristic of 

 the Alaskan birds. Adult sapsuckers from the upper Stikine River 

 (see Swarth, 1922, p. 220) have the same type of bill as the Hazelton 

 birds. (For use of the name ruber for the northern subspecies of the 

 red-breasted sapsucker see Swarth, 1912, p. 34.) 



Phloeotomus pileatus picinus Bangs. Western Pileated Woodpecker 



In June and again in late September, single birds were seen or 

 heard several times near the base of Rocher Deboule, southeast from 

 Hazelton. This must be about the extreme northern limit of the 

 species in this region. None was seen in Kispiox Valley, a few miles 

 to the northward. One specimen collected (no. 42140), a male taken 

 September 22. 



Colaptes auratus borealis Ridgway. Boreal Flicker 



Breeds abundantly in the lowlands, mostly in deciduous timber. 

 Present when we arrived, May 25, and until our departure, Septem- 

 ber 26. During the last two weeks in August flickers were extremely 

 scarce; then, early in September, they suddenly appeared in numbers 

 and remained abundant throughout the month. 



