SPHYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS. 
BLACK-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 
MELANERPES THYROIDEUS. Cassin. III. 1854, p. 201, pi. 32. 
PIOUS THYROIDEUS. Id. Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. (1851), p. 349. 
This pretty species was first discovered in California by Mr. Joliu G. Bell, our well-known taxidermist, who informed me that one 
morning, as he was going to the place where he w r as engaged looking for gold, his attention was attracted by hearing the note of 
some bird close at hand, which he did not recognize. 
He soon caught sight of the present species, as it was busy searching for food in the bark of a tree near by, and shot the 
only specimen there was; subsequently, in another locality, he procured a second. 
Dr. Heermann, who also obtained this species in California, says that, in the southern mines of that State, it frequents more 
especially the pine trees. He never saw it alight on the oaks, although they are abundant in that locality, and considers it as one 
of the most rare of the Woodpeckers of that country. 
My friend, Dr. Elliott Cones, so well known by his various able Monographs of North American birds, had many opportunities for 
observing this Woodpecker during a recent sojourn at one of the government posts in the far West, where he was attached to the 
command in his medical capacity; and has kindly sent me the following interesting account of the species, wdiich is the more valuable, 
as up to this time nothing has been known of either its economy or habits, and I am happy to be able to produce in this work, 
for the first time, the history of the Black-breasted Woodpecker, derived from so reliable a source. 
“ Fort Whipple, Arizona, August 14, 1865. 
“ This interesting and elegant Woodpecker is still a comparatively rare bird in collections, and though of quite extensive distribution 
in the Western portions of the United States, appears to be nowhere very abundant. It is known to extend from as far North at least 
as Oregon and Washington Territories, along both slopes of the Rocky Mountains, to the valleys of the Rio Grande and Colorado. 
Its southern limit is not well ascertained, but it probably goes into Sonora, passing along the mountain ranges of Arizona. In this 
territory, where I have had an opportunity of studying its habits, it is chiefly a pinicoline species; that is, inhabiting . the more elevated 
portions of the country where pines form the characteristic features of the sylva. But it is by no means confined to these trees; 
for I have found it also on open liill-sides, in the chaparral formed by the scrub oaks of the region; and, especially during the 
Autumn, it may often be seen among the tangled undergrowth of creeks and rivulets, feeding upon various fruits and berries. 
“ The Thyroid Woodpecker has been referred to various genera. In its general pattern of coloration it somewhat lesembles Colaptes, 
but in many points of anatomical structure it is very dissimilar from that genus. Of all the Woodpeckers, the species of Colaptes 
have perhaps the most protrudable and vermiform tongues, the bones of which, extremely long and almost filamentous, curve far around 
the vertex of the skull. As I have already asserted {vide Pr. A. U. S. Ph. Mar. 1 sec. p. ,) this species is entirely congeneric with 
S. Varius, with which it closely agrees in the anatomical peculiarities of its tongue, and in the habits which are induced by the structure 
of this organ. The cornua of the os Ityoides are so short as to scarcely reach beyond the tympano-maxillary articulation, and the 
muscles by which the movements of the tongue are effected, are proportionately diminished in size and power. The tongue cannot be 
protruded far beyond the bill, nor is it strongly barbed. In shape it is more flattened ; its apex is obtusely rounded and thickly 
beset with hairs. Although I have never actually seen wood from which the bark had been denuded by this species, for a space of 
several square inches, yet I have not the slightest doubt that such is the habit of the bird, and that it is truly lignivorous, feeding 
upon the soft inner bark of live trees. It may, and certainly does, also eat insects ; but the shape of its tongue and the movements of 
which the latter is capable, preclude the possibility of its extracting them from deep holes in the wood, as is the wont of most other 
species of the family. In the Autumn particularly, the Thyroid Woodpecker feeds to a considerable extent upon wild fruits, berries, 
grapes, &c., and often becomes exceedingly fat. 
“ I have always found it a rather shy and wary bird, and experienced more difficulty in procuring specimens than is usually found 
to be the case with species of Picus, Melanerpes, etc. This is particularly the case in early Spring, when the birds are pairing; but' 
in the Fall, when grown fat and lazy through abundance of food, and nothing to do but eat it, they are much less watchful. Their 
flight does not differ from that of the common Yellow-bellied Woodpecker of the Eastern States; the bird alternately rising and 
falling in long beautifully regular cycloidal curves; during the descent along which the wings are nearly closed, to be again opened 
and vigorously flapped, as it ascends at the termination of the cycloid. Almost all Woodpeckers, I believe, thus festoon themselves 
from tree to tree, although in going long distances their flight may be more firm and direct. 
