The Williamson Sapsucker 
male: Like adult male, but black not glossy; belly paler; throat white. Young 
female: Like adult female, but barring carried across head, neck, throat, and breast. 
Length of adult 203.2-228.6 (8.00-9.00); wing 136 (5.36); tail 84 (3.31); bill 25.4 (1.00); 
tarsus 21.5 (.83). 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee size; fine barring of female, with brown head, 
distinctive; extensive black of male with white head-stripes, white rump (upper tail- 
coverts), and white wing-bars; pattern of underparts (in male) clearly a modification 
of that of S. v. nuchalis, but red of throat much reduced and black much extended. 
Nesting.— Nest: A hole excavated by the birds, at any height in half-dead 
coniferous tree, or rarely, in California, aspen. Eggs: 3 to 7, usually 4; pure white. 
Av. size 24.2 x 17.2 (.95 x .68). Season: May-June; one brood. 
General Range. —Transition and Boreal mountain forests of western North 
America; breeding from central British Columbia and Montana south to southern 
California, central Arizona, and central New Mexico; wintering from the southern 
tier of western states south to Jalisco. 
Distribution in California. —Summer resident of high Transition and Boreal 
zones of the Warner Mountains, the Sierras, the San Bernardinos, and less commonly 
the San Jacintos. In winter descending to somewhat lower levels and wandering 
westward sparingly to interior coastal ranges. 
Authorities. — Cassin {Picus thyroideus), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., v., 1851, 
p. 349 (orig. desc.; Calif.); Henshaw , Am. Nat., vol. viii., 1874, p. 242 \ Bendire, Life 
Hist. N. Am. Birds, vol. ii., 1895, p. 97 \Grinnell, Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool., vol. v., 1908, 
p. 64 (San Bernardino Mts.); McAtee , U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 37, 1912, 
p. 32 (food); Swarth, Condor, vol. xix., 1917, p. 62 (syst.; nomencl.; crit.). 
IN THE LIGHT of after knowledge, it is always amusing to recall 
the gropings of the pioneers in the search for truth. The case of the 
Williamson Sapsucker, however, was exceptionally puzzling. Here nature 
had deliberately set a trap for the unwary, and it is small wonder that 
the pioneers meekly fell into it. Whereas the two sexes of most wood¬ 
peckers are very much alike, Lord and Lady Thyroideus are almost abso¬ 
lutely unlike, only a tinge of yellow, common to most sapsuckers, serving 
to hint at any relationship. Cassin describes the female first in 1851, 
from a California specimen, as Picus thyroideus; and she was known for 
some years as the Brown-headed or Round-headed Woodpecker. Where¬ 
fore, Baird, in the “Ornithology of California” (1870) gravely tells us: 
“No red on top of head, but the chin and throat tinged with this color in 
adult males”; and “Female with rather duller colors.” Dr. Newberry, 
in 1857, described the handsome black-and-white-and-yellow male as 
Picus williamsonii, and Baird’s comment is, “Female with the chin white 
instead of red(?).” In 1872, Dr. Henshaw, studying the birds near Gar¬ 
land, Colorado, discovered a black male “ williamsonii ” and a brown 
female thyroideus waiting upon the same brood of newly hatched young, 
and so set us straight upon this strange alliance. 1 
1 Explorations and Surveys west of the tooth Meridian. Rep. on Orn. Spec. Coll, in years 1871, 1872 and 1873 
(1874), P- 92. 
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