202 
WOODPECKERS 
records on its breeding grounds attests. A sharp peek will sometimes 
reveal its presence, and if you look quickly you may catch sight of a 
vanishing back marked with a white vertical line. 
In working, the hairy woodpecker takes short hops up the tree 
trunk, sidles around, or backs down with equal ease. It is a forest 
preserver, spending its life in ridding the trees of wood-borers and 
other insects that destroy them. When not engaged in getting food, 
it entertains itself by drumming on a resonant branch. 
The Harris woodpecker is the humid Pacific coast form of mllosus 
while Cabanis is the interior form. As villosus is a Transition zone 
bird it affects yellow pines and aspens, and in the ponderosa forests 
of Arizona I have seen it excavate in pine bark with wonderful dex¬ 
terity. Instead of drilling straight down, with its head on one side, 
it would fleck off and send flying the thin flakes of bark which char¬ 
acterize the tree. In Arizona the young Cabanis woodpeckers leave 
their nests about the middle of June, Dr. Mearns says, and soon after 
make a partial vertical migration downward to the lower edge of the 
pine belt in company with other birds that breed at the higher levels. 
In winter when the timber gets icy the woodpeckers sometimes go 
as low as the cottonwoods, where they are usually accompanied by 
flocks of Cassin finches, red-backed j uncos, and their especial com¬ 
panions, the slender-billed nuthatches. 
393c. D. v. harrisii (. Aud .). Harris Woodpecker. 
Adult male. — Upper parts black, with scarlet nape, white stripe down 
back, wing coverts and tertials plain black or lightly spotted with white; 
outer primaries with white spots; outer 
tail feather plain white ; under parts smoky 
gray or light smoky brown. Adult female: 
similar, but without scarlet nape. Young: 
similar, but forehead spotted with white and 
scarlet of nape extending partly or wholly over crown. Length : 9-10, 
wing 4.70-5.30, tail 3.20-3.75, bill 1.12-1.40. 
Remarks. — The plain black or very lightly spotted wing coverts and 
tertials of harrisii distinguish it from the northern and southern hairy 
woodpeckers, while its smoky under parts distinguish it from hyloscopus. 
Distribution. — Pacific coast in humid Transition and Canadian zones, 
from Alaska south to northern California (Humboldt Bay). 
Nest and eggs similar to that of the northern hairy. 
Food. — Wood-boring larvae, wasps, weevils, beetles, ants, seeds, and wild 
berries. 
393d. D. V. hyloscopus (Cab.). Cabanis Woodpecker. 
Similar to D. v. harrisii , but white instead of smoky below, and some* 
what smaller. 
Distribution. — Resident in arid Transition zone of the southwestern 
United States and south to mountains of Zacatecas, Mexico — replaced by 
harrisii in the humid coast district. 
Nest. — Usually 12 to 18 feet from the ground in pines, aspens, and other 
trees. Eggs: 3 to G, white. 
Fig. 269. 
