212 
WOODPECKERS 
dusky or yellowish. Young: duller, and eolor pattern less distinct, the red 
replaced by claret brown. Length: 8.50-9.25, wing (male) 4.70-5.05, tail 
3.10-3.50, bill 1.00-1.08. 
Remarks. — The young of ruber is similar to the same stage of nuchalis , 
but can be distinguished usually by the dull reddish suffusion oyer its 
head, neck, and chest; while the adult may be recognized in the field by 
the absence of black chest patch and white stripes on the sides of the 
head. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Canadian zone forests of the 
Pacific coast region from southern Oregon to northern Lower California ; 
east to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and eastern slope of the 
Cascades. 
Nest. — In aspens, 15 to 25 feet from the ground. Eggs: 5 or 6, white. 
Food. — Beetles, spiders, ants, grasshoppers, centipeds, and larvae, wild 
berries, sap, and inner bark. 
In the Sierra Nevada the red-breasted sapsucker is one of the 
common woodpeckers. When riding through the forests there we 
often got a flash of color from its red head and neck as it flew before 
our horses. On a fir slope above Donner one July day we discovered 
chips at the foot of an old stub heavily covered with yellow lichen, 
and rapping on it sent the mother flying and roused a clamorous 
family of young. 
The last week in July at Donner Lake we found a family of dull 
colored young going about with their mother, a handsome old bird 
with dark red head and breast. They flew around in a poplar grove 
for a while, and then gathered in a clump of willows, where four 
young clung to the branches and devoted themselves to eating sap. 
The old bird flew about among them and seemingly cut and scraped 
off the bark for them, at the same time apparently trying to teach 
them to eat the sap for themselves; for though she would feed them 
at other times she refused to feed them there, and apparently watched 
carefully to see if they knew enough to drink the sap. When the 
meal was finally over and the birds had flown, we examined the 
branch and found that lengthwise strips of bark had been cut off, 
leaving narrow strips like fiddle-strings between. At the freshly cut 
places the sap exuded as sweet as sugar, ready for the birds to suck. 
In winter the red-breasted visits the cities, being seen, Mr. Grin- 
nell says, in pepper-trees even on noisy city streets. He has found 
it in Pasadena from October till the last of March. 
403a. S. r. notkensis ( Suckow). Northern Red-breasted Sap- 
sucker. 
Similar to S. ruber , but darker, and belly olive yellow. 
Distribution. —-Northwest coast region of North America, from Sitka 
south in California through the Santa Cruz Mountains. 
404. Sphyrapicus thyroideus (Cass.). Williamson Sapsucker. 
Adult male. — Upper parts glossy black except white rump, large white 
