261 
RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 
Picus buber, Gmel. 
PLATE CCLXYI. — 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 t'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, 8 ; wing, 5 T 2 2- 
Upper California. Columbia river. Nootka. Common. Migratory. 
Adult Male. n 
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 
