The Gila Woodpecker 
No. 202 
Gila Woodpecker 
A. 0 . U. No. 411. Centurus uropygialis uropygialis Baird. 
Description. — Adult male: Head and neck all around and most of underparts 
buffy drab, paler on forehead and sides of crown, where enclosing a patch of carmine; 
the cervix occasionally glossed with light cadmium (recalling the nuchal patch of 
C. aurifrons ); the rump and upper tail-coverts white, sharply but sparingly marked with 
V-shaped and brace-shaped black bars; the tail black-and-white centrally, solid black 
on exposed edges; remaining upperparts heavily and equally black-and-white barred; 
the tips of wing broadly dusky, but the quills narrowly tipped with white; the center of 
belly light cadmium yellow; the axillars, flanks, crissum, and under aspect of tail 
black-and-white barred. Bill and feet black. Adult female: Like male, but without 
red on crown—drab instead. Length 203.2-254 (8.00-10.00), averaging about 228.6 
(9.00); wing 130 (5.12); tail 80 (3.15); bill 30 (1.18); tarsus 22.5 (.886). Females 
average considerably less. 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee to robin size; drab foreparts and breast, in sharp 
contrast with black-and-white-barred wings and tail, distinctive. 
Nesting. — Nest: A hole in giant cactus with walls formed by dried juices of 
plant; also in mesquite, willow, or other tree. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4; white, scarcely 
glossy. Av. of 28 eggs from Arizona in M. C. O. coll.: 24.9 x 18.5 (.98 x .73); index 
74.7. Season: April (Colorado River Valley), May (Santa Cruz plateau, Ariz.); 
one brood. 
Range of Centurus uropygialis. —Western Mexico and Lower California north 
to southeastern Nevada. 
Range of C. u. uropygialis. —That of the species minus the southern half of 
Lower California ( brewsteri ). 
Distribution in California. —Resident in the valley of the Colorado River, 
where closely confined to the willow-cottonwood association and the adjacent patches 
of giant cactus. 
Authorities.—Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 1858, p. hi (spec, from 
Ft. Yuma); Morcom, Bull. Ridgway Orn. Club, no. 2, 1887, p. 42 (vie. Ft. Yuma, 
breeding); Grinnell, Univ. Univ. Calif. Pub. Zook, vol. xii., 1914, p. 133 (Colo. Valley; 
habits, nest and eggs, etc .); Gilman, Condor, vol. xvii., 1915, p. 151, figs, (life hist, in 
s. Ariz.). 
NO BIRD-LOVER can recall the image of a sahuaro, that quaint 
vegetable tombstone of the desert, without at the same time focusing 
his mind upon this petulant, impudent, and inevitable bird. The Gila 
Woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker are the lawful custodians and business 
agents and caretakers of all properly constituted “giants.” Prospective 
tenants, whether Elf Owls, Ash-throated Flycatchers, Western Martins, 
or Sparrow Hawks, must look to them for quarters. And if these renters 
do not always exhibit a becoming gratitude, the Gila, at least, gets it back 
at them by gossiping, by snooping and prying, by unquenchable criticism, 
1035 
