Page:Condor3(6).djvu/26

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Nov., ?9o?. [ THE CONDOR ?63 opporeunity to attack the'female woodpecker when she came to feed her young. However both species reared their young successfully. The white-headed wood- pecker is one of the quaintest-looking and most interesting birds of the region. [Common in Lake Valley and about Fallen Leaf Lake, as well as everywhere in the range of the yellow pine. I have never noted it above 7000 feet. --W. W. P.] Picoides arcticus. Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker. [A pair was collected on Silver Creek, ;vest of Pyramid Peak, in August 1896. The same month a young bird was shot at 9,000 feet on Pyramid Peak. In July 1898 two young were shot at the head of Glen Alpine gorge. They were feeding in a grove of alpine hem- lock.--W. W. P.] Sphyrapicus ruber. Ret?-breasted Sapsucker. A common Transition species. On June ?r, x897 Mr. Carrigor and I found a nest 40 feet up in a dead, barkless pine in a ravine at Fyffe. It contained young whose "screeping" notes could be heard whenever the parents alighted 'on the stub. The old birds were not an- noyed by our presence, going promptly to the cavity with their supply of food. I have observed the species up as far as Echo. Sphyrapicusthyroideus. Williamson Sapsucker. On June 9, ?9 Mr. Atkin- son and [ observed a female drilling its nesting-hole in a red fir on the meadow at the base of Pyramid Peak. I shot a female at 7,2oo feet altitude on June ?4, ?9 ol and do not think it is found below Echo. Mr. Taylor collected an immature fe- male at Cascade Lake Aug. 8. Ceophlceus pileatus abieticola. Northern Pileated Woodpecker. Not uncom- mon. I observed several in the tall dead pines but all were extremely wary. When I first heard it drumming at Fyffe early one morning its "tapping" was a revelation and could be heard a great distance in the woods. Mr. Beck collected a female at Fyffe and Mr. P?ice's assistant found a nest containing young on June June 13, ?897. Mr. Taylor collected a male at Gihnore Springs near Tallac Sept. 2, 1901. l?lelanerpes formicivorus bairdi. California Woodpecker. Recorded from near Placerville by Mr.' C. A. Swisler. Melanerpes torquatus. Lewis Woodpecker. Personally I have not observed this woodpecker on the west slope of the range, tiaough it would be expected to occur. Mr. Beck found it common and breeding about Bijou on Lake Tahoe in the summer of 1896 , and Mr. Taylor collected two immature females at Grass Lake near Glen Alpine on Sept. 20, t9or. Colaptos corer collaris. Red-shafted Flicker. Common in the wooded districts from the lower foot hills up to at least 9,000 feet. One specimen which I shot was smeared with pitch from the pines and of a dark color, due doubtless to its contact with burut trees. W:dle climbing Pyramid Peak on June lO, ?9oo Mr. Atkinson found a nest of this flicker in a stub of a white-bark pine at about 9,200 feet alti- tude. The nest was ten feet up and contained six eggs, almost fresh. The parent bird was extremely wild and did not seem to venture near the stnb during our stay on the peak. Phallenoptilus nuttalli californicus. Dusky Poor-will. One heard at Fyffe on the night of June t9, r896. We were camped on the edge of a clearing and had just retired, the moon brilliantly lighting the open space, when the call of a poor-will came to us from across the clearing in the shadow. It was repeated several times when the bird departed. Mr: Taylor collected a female at Meyer's Station in Lake Valley on Sept. 2, 19o?. Chordeiles virginianus. Nighthawk. Not observed on the west slope from