WOODPECKERS * 213 
patch on wing coverts, and fine white spots on quills; sides of head with 
two white stripes; throat and breast black, 
with a median stripe of bright red ; belly- 
bright yellow. Adult female: entire body 
barred with brown or black and white, except 
for brown head and white rump and, rarely, a 
red median stripe on throat; chest usually with a black patch ; middle of 
belly yellow. Young male: similar to adult male, but black duller, belly 
paler, throat stripe white. Young female: similar to adult female, but 
markings and colors duller, belly whitish, and chest without black patch. 
Length: 9.00-9.75, wing 5.25-5.50, tail 3.80-3.90, bill 1.00-1.20. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Canadian zones in the western 
United States from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the west¬ 
ern spurs of the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and northern coast ranges; south 
to New Mexico and Arizona; winters in southern California, New Mexico, 
western Texas, and Sierra Madre to Jalisco, Mexico. 
Nest. — In pines and aspens, 5 to 60 feet from the ground. Eggs : 3 to 
7, white. 
Food. — Mainly insects and their larvae. 
The Williamson sapsucker is one of the handsomest birds one sees 
in the forest, but ordinarily it flies from tree to tree before you and its 
black back and white rump and wing patches are all that are seen. 
After several weeks of such fleeting glimpses in the Sierra Nevada, 
we were delighted by the discovery of a pair at home on their own 
breeding grounds. The place, Lincoln Valley above Sierra Valley, 
was close to the crest of the range, at an elevation of seven thousand 
feet. The nest was in a stub in a group of huge Murray pines on 
the edge of one of the most beautiful of the Sierra mountain meadows 
— a forest-encircled meadow brilliant with golden buttercups. It 
seemed a right royal home for such noble birds. While I watched 
the nest the male with his glossy coat, yellow belly, and red throat 
came flying in, his bill bristling with insects; but feeling himself 
observed, promptly sidled out of sight under the branches. 
GENUS CEOPHLCEUS. 
405a. Ceophlceus pileatus abieticola Bangs. Northern 
Pileated Woodpecker : Cock-of-the-Woods. 
Head conspicuously crested; bill longer than head, straight, with wedge¬ 
like tip, beveled sides, and strong ridges, broader than high at base; nos¬ 
trils concealed by large nasal tufts; feet peculiar, outer hind toe shorter 
than outer front toe ; tarsus shorter than inner front toe and claw. 
Adult male. — Brownish or grayish black; entire top of head, occipital 
crest, and malar stripe bright red; chin and wide stripe on side of head 
white, or.sulphur yellow ; patches on wings and under wing coverts white ; 
feathers of belly tipped with whitish. Adult female: similar, but fore¬ 
part of head and malar stripe brown instead of red. Young: similar to 
female, but crest salmon. Male: wing 9, tail 6.31, exposed culmen 2.05. 
Distribution. — Heavily wooded regions of North America from the 
southern Alleghanies northward to about latitude 63° and westward to 
Pacific coast. 
Fig. 279. Williamson Sapsucker. 
