WOODPECKERS 
205 
the red-shafted flicker and the ant-eating woodpecker, and in south¬ 
ern Texas with the golden-fronted woodpecker. The thin voice of 
bairdi betrays his presence when he is hidden, but he is often in 
evidence, peeking around a post or tree trunk at you. 
Where there are trees he nests in them, where there are none he 
accommodates himself to circumstances and nests in yuccas, fence 
posts, and telegraph poles. On throwing open a gate the traveler 
is sometimes surprised by the screams of a brood in the gate post. 
396a. D. s. lucasanus ( Xantus ). Saint Lucas Woodpecker. 
Similar to bairdi , but outer tail feather barred only on terminal half 
or less, except sometimes on inner web, and primary coverts with at least 
one row of small white spots. Length: 7.25-7.75, wing 3.95-4.10, tail 
2.70-2.90, exposed culmen .91-.94. 
Distribution. — From about latitude 34° in the Colorado Desert, Califor¬ 
nia, south through Lower California. 
397. Dryobates nuttallii ( Gamb .). Nuttall Woodpecker. 
Adult male. — Upper parts barred with black and white, but forehead 
dingy; crown black , sometimes streaked with 
white ; back of head with red patch ; hind neck 
white; shoulders crossed by wide black band ; 
middle tail feathers black, and outer feathers 
with not more than two distinct black bars; 
under parts almost pure white ; sides spotted with black. Adult female: 
similar, but without red on head. Young: similar, but top of crown red, 
nape black, and under parts more thickly barred with black. Length: 
7, wing 3.90-4.20, tail 2.60-3.05, exposed culmen .77-82. 
Remarks. — The difference in color pattern of head and outer tail feath¬ 
ers distinguish nuttallii from scalaris bairdi. 
Distribution. — Resident in Upper Sonoran (and Transition ?) zone, west 
of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains, from southern Oregon south 
to northern Lower California. 
Nest. — In dead limbs or old stubs of oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods, 
elders, and willows, at no great height from the ground. Eggs : 4 to 6, white. 
Food. — Mainly insects and larvae, including caterpillars, ants, weevils, 
seeds, and probably occasionally berries and fruit. 
The cross-bars on the back and the white feathers on the sides of 
the tail mark this little woodpecker as it clings to a tree trunk or 
flies across to another bole. It has a nuthatch-like way of flying up 
to light on the under side of a limb, and when hanging upside down 
turns itself around with as much ease as a fly on a ceiling. 
At times the small Nuttall waxes excited, and shakes his wings 
as he gives t his thin, rattling call. All his notes are thin, and his 
quee-quee-quee-queep' has a sharp quality. His chit'tah is a dimin¬ 
utive of the ja'cob of the California woodpecker. He is a sturdy 
little fellow, and in flight will sometimes rise high in air and fly 
long and steadily, dipping only slightly over the brush. He has 
the full strength of his convictions and will drive a big flicker from 
Fig. 272. 
