WOODPECKERS: ALPINE THREE-TOED 
413 
feet near the top of White Water Baldy, October 23, 1906 (Bailey); [taken on Gold 
Hill, Taos County, at 10,000 feet, November 20, 1926 (Ligon).] A specimen taken 
December 28, 1912, on the west side of Monument Pass in the Black Range at about 
8,000 feet is from the most southern locality in the State (Ligon). The birds were 
seen there also in January, 1913.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Two, recorded by Major Bendire, in spruce and yellow pine, 15 and 30 
feet from the ground. Eggs: 5, white. 
Food. —Over 75 per cent, destructive wood-boring larvae of caterpillars and 
beetles. The Three-toed Woodpeckers rank high as conservators of the forest, 
eliminating annually, as Professor Beal has estimated, some 13,675 of the grubs 
most destructive to forests. The scarcity of these useful woodpeckers make their 
protection and encouragement especially important. 
General Habits. —Rare and solitary, except in the breeding season, 
a Three-toed Woodpecker, distinguished at once by his unusual foot, his 
glossy head, and golden coronet, is discovered on a dark tree trunk in 
his forest home with much self gratulation. One of our camps at the 
foot of Pecos Baldy, at 11,600 feet, was especially favored, for a family 
came into the spruces to feed. An old male and a young one were seen 
on a tree together, the young one picking about for himself, although 
the old bird was digging larvae out of the live bark and feeding them to 
him. This was the pair discovered by a young red-capped Rocky 
Mountain Hairy—all well enough in himself but not to be looked at in 
the presence of the distinguished Alpine Three-toed—who, as they were 
enjoying their meal, made himself so obnoxious that they finally flew 
away, apparently uttering their opinion of him in good set terms as they 
went. 
A larger enemy, a Yosemite black bear, Mr. Dixon discovered by the 
vigorous scolding of the parents, located a conveniently low nest of the 
Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker in a live lodgepole pine. In trying to get 
at the young, the bear bit out slabs of green wood twelve inches long 
and two inches wide. “The muddy stains around the inside of the nest 
entrance showed that he had thrust his nose into the hole repeatedly/' 
but the wood was sq hard that he finally gave up and left the birds alone. 
PERCHING BIRDS: Order Passeriformes 
The Perching Birds have feet perfectly adapted for grasping, both 
by their length, low insertion of the hind toe, and the muscular adaption 
of the hind toe for apposing the front ones. More than half the known 
birds of the world or about 13,000 belong to this order, considerably more 
than 400 being in North America. “In this order the high-strung life of 
bird nature* reaches its highest development, the nervous system being 
acutely sensitive, the special senses keenly developed, at least those of 
sight and hearing, the circulation rapid, and the temperature the highest 
among animals’ 7 (Eaton). “ All our passerine birds are born in an almost 
naked condition, having only a mere trace of down on the feather tracts 
