THE BIRD BOOK 



401a. Alaska Three-toed Woodpecker. 

 Picoides americanus fasciatus. 



Range. — Alaska, south to British Columbia 

 and Washington. 



Like tlie last, but with more white on the 

 back. Eggs like the aretiait;. 



401 b. Alpine Thhee-toed Wooupeckbk. 

 PicoideJ americamis dorsalis. 



Range. — Rocky Mountains from British Co- 

 lumbia south to New Mexico. 



Slightly larg'er than the preceding and with 

 more white on the back, almost entirely losing 

 the barred effect of the American Three-toed 

 variety. They nest chiefly in dead pines, lay- 

 ing four or five white eggs that cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from those of many other species. 

 Size .95 X .70. 



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 402. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Sphyra- 



picus varius varius. 



Range. — North America, east of the Plains-; breeding from Massachusetts 

 northward, and wintering from the Carolinas and Illinois southward. 



This species is one of the most handsomely marked of the family; they can 

 easily be recognized by the red crown and throat (white on the female), each 

 bordered by black, and the yellowish underparts. The mem- 

 bers of this genus have been found to be the only ones that _ 

 are really injurious, and these only to a slight extent, to cul- 

 tivated trees. This species and the two followiiig are the only 

 real "sapsuckers," a crime that is often attributed to the most 

 useful of the family. Their nesting season is during May and 

 June, they then resorting to the interior of the woods, where 

 they deposit their four to seven glossy eggs on the bottom 

 of holes in trees, generally at quite an elevation from the 

 ground. Size of eggs .85 x .60. White 



/ 



402a. Red-naped Sapisucker, Sphyrapicuis varius iiuchalis. 



Range. — Rocky Mountain region of the United States and sovithern Canada 

 south to Mexico and west to California. 



This variety differs from the last, chiefly in addition of a band of scarlet 

 on the nape in place of the white on the Yellow-bellied species. Coming as 

 it does, midway between the ranges of the preceding species and the following, 

 this variety, with its extension of red on the head and throat, may be regarded 

 somewhat as a connecting link between the two species, but it is perfectly dis- 

 tinct and does not intergrade with either. There appears to be no difference in 

 the nesting habits of the two varieties, except that the present one, according to 

 Bendire, shows a preference to nesting in live aspens. The eggs measure 

 .90X.65, 



254 



