261 



RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 



-f Picus ruber, Gmel. 



PLATE CCLXVI.— Male and Female. 



Several specimens of this Woodpecker, which were procured by Mr. 

 Townsend on the Columbia river, are in my possession; but I regret that I 

 have no other information to communicate respecting its habits than what is 

 contained in the following note from my friend Thomas Nuttall, Esq., 

 who says, "This species, seen in the forests of the Columbia and the Blue 

 Mountains of the same country, has most of the habits of the common Red- 

 headed species. It is, however, much less familiar, and keeps generally 

 among the tall fir-trees, in the dead trunks of which it burrows out a hole 

 for a nest, sometimes at a great elevation. On approaching one which was 

 feeding its young in one of these situations, it uttered a loud reverberating 

 t'rr i'rr, and seemed angry and solicitous at my approach. The same 

 species also inhabits Upper California as well as the north-west coast up to 

 Nootka. It is found eastward as far as the central chain of the Rocky 

 Mountains." An egg taken from a nest which contained four, is an inch 

 and a quarter in length, three-fourths in breadth, smooth, equally rounded 

 at both ends, though somewhat elongated, and pure white. 



Picus ruber, Gmel. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 429. Lath. Ind. Ornith., vol. i. p. 228. 

 Red-breasted Woodpecker, Picus ruber, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 179. 



Male, 8, 14. Female, S; wing, 5 T V 



Upper California. Columbia river. Nootka. Common. Migratory. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, straight, strong, angular, compressed 

 toward the tip, which is slightly truncate and cuneate. Upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line very slightly convex, the ridge very narrow, the sides 

 sloping, concave at the base, slightly convex toward the end, the lateral 

 angle farther from the ridge than from the margin at its commencement, and 

 terminating on the edge about half-way, the edges sharp, direct, overlapping. 

 Lower mandible with the angle short and rather wide, the crural outline 

 straight, the dorsal ascending and straight, the sides sloping outwards and 

 slightly convex, the tip narrow. Nostrils linear-oblong, basal, concealed by 

 the feathers, and placed much nearer the margin than the ridge. 



Vol. IV. 36 



