Chapter C: J. Maynard (1896) states, concerning its habits, as follows (3)

Manly Hardy wrote to Major Bendire (1895) that, in Maine, “it seems to feed entirely on such wood worms as attack spruce, pine, and other soft-wood timber that has been fire-killed. Specimens are so abundant in such places that I once shot the heads off of six in a few minutes when short of material for a stew.”

Some dead pine trees that had been regularly frequented by these woodpeckers, on the Kennard estate, were cut down; and the birds, seeing their favorite trees gone, continued to search for food on the wood piles made from these trees.

_Behavior._--Most observers agree that the Arctic three-toed woodpecker is very tame and unsuspicious, working very quietly on a tree trunk for long periods, without moving about much, and allowing a close approach; perhaps, as it lives most of its life in remote northern forests, where men are scarce, it has not learned to fear human beings. Manly Hardy considered it the tamest and stupidest of the woodpeckers found in Maine. Major Bendire (1895) says:

“Like the hairy woodpecker, they are persistent drummers, rattling away for minutes at a time on some dead limb, and are especially active during the mating season, in April. I have located more than one specimen by traveling in the direction of the sound when it was fully half a mile away. * * * Its flight is swift, greatly undulating, and is often protracted for considerable distances.”

Dr. Lewis says in his notes: “When one bird relieved the other in guarding the cavity, the bird taking over guard duty flew low toward the stub and swerved sharply upward, with widespread tail, to alight near the opening.”

_Voice._--Dr. Lewis (MS.) records the common cry of this woodpecker as “_tchuk_, often shortened and sharpened to _kip_.” He also says: “A male mounted a stub, about 25 feet from me, and there, in plain view, scolded me vigorously with a sharp note like _kuk_, repeated about once a second for some minutes. Each time the note was uttered there was a flash of whitish at the bird’s eye, as though it winked with each utterance. It was also heard to utter a rattling note, apparently another kind of scolding cry.”

Francis H. Allen tells me that the “call-note resembles the _cluck_ used in New England to start a horse; it has a ‘woodeny’ quality.” Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says that “in the breeding season the Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker makes a very loud rolling sound by drumming on dry limbs and when concerned about the nest a shrill _kick-er-uck-a-kick_. The ordinary call is _tschick_ or _tschuck_.” A note of greeting, possibly part of a love-making performance, is thus described by Mr. Achilles (1906): “Several times when the female was getting grubs in the dead spruce near the hole, the male would fly from some distant tree and alight near her. She would see him coming and, just about as he was about to alight, would spread her wings and utter a ‘whe-e-e-e-ee.’ This call, which was its loudest at its middle point, rose and then fell to the same pitch at which it was begun.”

Rev. C. W. G. Eifrig (1906) heard a queer sound that “was as if produced by pulling out the end of a clock spring and suddenly releasing it, producing a wiry, humming sound. The author of it proved to be a male of this woodpecker. In the course of the half hour that I watched him he showed himself master of quite a repertoire of notes and would-be songs. When flying he would say: _chut chut_ and then rattle like a Kingfisher. When hammering on a tree and preening himself, he would intersperse those actions by chuckling: _duck, duck, duck_.”

_Field marks._--All the three-toed woodpeckers can be easily recognized by the yellow patch on the crown of the adult male and by more or less yellow in the crowns or young birds of both sexes. The crown patch of the adult male _arcticus_ is larger and extends farther forward than that of _tridactylus_. But the best field mark for the Arctic three-toed woodpecker is the solid-black back, without any white markings, and in the female the solid-black crown as well; the dorsal aspect, when the bird is clinging to a tree trunk, often appears wholly black. The white stripe on the side of the head, below the eye, is much wider in _arcticus_ than in _tridactylus_, and the latter has the back transversely banded with white.

_Enemies._--Mr. Achilles (1906) relates the following:

In the course of the morning, two red-breasted nuthatches
tormented the woodpeckers for fifteen minutes. * * * They
hovered around the hole with drooping wings, holding their
tails up like wrens. One of them finally ventured into the
hole so far that just his tail was protruding. They would
fly away when the parents approached the hole, but would
return as soon as the nest was unprotected. After some time
the male woodpecker went into the hole, evidently intending
to peck them in case they should look into it. During the
three minutes he remained in the hole, he managed to keep
from looking out for one straight minute. Nevertheless,
he was greatly agitated, and would look out every few
seconds to see if the nuthatches were approaching,--his
crown-patch showing brightly. At last the male nuthatch
came to the edge of the hole, whereat the woodpecker made
an unsuccessful attempt to peck his opponent, afterward
flying out with a rush, and chasing the nuthatch for some
distance on the wing.

Soon after that four Canada jays approached, and one of them ventured near the nest hole, but the woodpecker and a hermit thrush succeeded in driving him and his companions away, and they did not return.

Joseph Dixon (1927) tells of an attempt by a black bear to rob a nest of young Arctic three-toed woodpeckers:

This nest was located only four feet above the ground in a
large live lodgepole pine. My attention was first attracted
to the locality by the unusually vigorous scolding of the
parent woodpeckers. A closer approach revealed the cause of
the excitement.

A bear had located the nest, probably through the noise of
the young woodpeckers, which were old enough to come to
the nest entrance to receive food, and which squealed with
anticipation of a meal any time any bird, animal or person
came close to the nest tree. In an endeavor to get at the
young in the nest, the bear had bitten out slabs of green
wood twelve inches long, two inches wide, and one-quarter
of an inch thick. The muddy stains around the inside of
the nest entrance showed that the bear had thrust his nose
into the hole repeatedly. But after gnawing over an area
10 by 10 inches on the tree trunk to a depth of more than
an inch, the bear gave it up as a bad job. Had the nest
been in an old stump, the outcome would probably have been
different. This offers a reasonable explanation of the
tendency of certain woodpeckers to nest in living trees.

Mr. Kennard tells in his notes of a female hummingbird that attacked one of these woodpeckers: “Several times she swooped down at the woodpecker, who, quick as a flash, would dodge around the trunk and out of her way.”

_Winter._--The Arctic three-toed woodpecker is normally mainly resident in winter throughout most of its breeding range; it is a hardy bird and its food supply is available at all seasons, the grubs on which it feeds remaining in the wood for more than one season. Probably a few wander southward nearly every winter, and there have been several heavy flights of these birds into the Northeastern States, which it is not easy to explain. Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne (1926) has given a full account of one of these invasions, to which the reader is referred. Mr. Forbush (1927) writes:

It is difficult to determine exactly what causes these
unusual migrations, They are not forced by inclement
weather, for one at least has occurred in a mild winter.
* * * It seems probable that the unusual invasions of the
species into New England follow summers when its food has
been unusually abundant. An excessive food supply tends to
fecundity, and overbreeding naturally compels expansion
and induces migration, whether among the lower animals or
humankind. Since the above was written, Mr. Josselyn Van
Tyne has published a paper regarding the unusual flight
of this species in 1923 in which he advances a similar
explanation. He says that between 1909 and 1914 there was
an irruption of the spruce budworm in eastern Canada and
Maine which resulted in the death of many trees and a
consequent increase of bark-beetles and borers, followed
by an increase in the number of these woodpeckers. On the
other hand a scarcity of the usual food supply may cause
migration. A wet season with few fires in the woods or a
scarcity of insects (such as the spruce bud-moth) that kill
trees might, later, cause a migration.

Illustrating the length of the sojourn of these woodpeckers during the winter of 1923-24, Dr. Van Tyne (1926) says:

The greatest concentration of these woodpeckers recorded at
any one point was on the estate of Mr. F. H. Kennard where
scores of dead and dying white pine afforded an abundance
of their special food. The first one seen was a male
collected on October 17. Another individual appeared by
October 20 and during the winter at least three males and
two females were accounted for, while all indications point
toward the actual presence of perhaps twice as many. The
most remarkable fact about this group of birds, however,
was the length of their stay, for both males and females
were seen as late as the middle of May and at least one
male stayed through the early part of June and was last
seen on June 12.

Other invasions are recorded by Mr. Forbush (1927) as follows: “A great irruption of these birds occurred in the autumn of 1860. During the following winter Mr. George O. Welch often saw as many as six or eight at once in a piece of fire-killed timber in Lynn. * * * In the autumn of 1925, there was a lesser movement, and many returned through New England in the spring of 1926. In the autumn of 1926 another considerable southward migration occurred.”

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--North America south to the Central United States; nonmigratory.

The range of the Arctic three-toed woodpecker extends =north= to central Alaska (probably Tocatna Forks and Fairbanks); southern Mackenzie (Fort Wrigley, Fort Providence, and Smith Portage); northern Manitoba (Cochrane River and probably York Factory); Quebec (Richmond Gulf, Godbout, and Madeline River); and Newfoundland (Nicholsville). =East= to Newfoundland (Nicholsville); probably rarely Prince Edward Island (Baddeck); eastern New Brunswick (Tabusintac); probably rarely Nova Scotia (Advocate); Maine (Machias); and probably rarely Massachusetts (Winchendon and Concord). =South= to probably rarely Massachusetts (Concord); central Vermont (Pico Peak); southern Ontario (Ottawa, Algonquin Park, and Sand Lake); northern Michigan (Au Sable Valley, Blaney, and Huron Mountain); probably northern Wisconsin (Kelley Brook and Star Lake); northern Minnesota (North Pacific Junction, Itasca Park, and White Earth); probably southwestern South Dakota (Elk Mountains); northwestern Wyoming (Yellowstone Park); northwestern Montana (Glacier National Park and Fortine); northern Idaho (Fort Sherman); and central California (Mona Lake and Bear Valley). =West= to California. (Bear Valley, Lassen Peak, and Mount Shasta); Oregon (Pinehurst and Fort Klamath); Washington (Bumping Lake and probably Tiger); British Columbia (Arrow Lakes, Fort St. James, Kispiox Valley, and Atlin); south-central Yukon (Six-mile River); and Alaska (Chitina Moraine and probably Tocatna Forks).

During the winter season this species has been recorded =north= to Alaska (Copper River); Mackenzie (Fort Simpson, Fort Rae, and Fort Reliance); Manitoba (Grand Rapids); Ontario (Arnprior and Ottawa); New Brunswick (Scotch Lake); and Nova Scotia (Pictou). While no regular movements have been detected, individuals have been recorded at this season =south= to Long Island, N. Y. (East Hampton and Southampton); northern New Jersey (Upper Montclair and Englewood); southern New York (Ithaca); Ohio (Painesville and Akron); Illinois (Rantoul and Peoria); Iowa (Big Cedar River); and Nebraska (Omaha and Dakota).

_Egg dates._--Labrador: 3 records, May 27 to June 2.
Maine: 3 records, May 19 to June 12.
New Brunswick: 12 records, May 19 to June 30; 6 records, May 30 to
June 15, indicating the height of the season.
New York: 5 records, May 18 to June 10.

PICOÏDES TRIDACTYLUS BACATUS Bangs

AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER

PLATE 17

HABITS

This North American race of the three-toed woodpecker occupies an extensive range in the Hudsonian and Canadian Zones of approximately the eastern half of Canada, which extends into some of the Northern States from Minnesota eastward. Two other races occupy similar zones in western Canada, Alaska, and the Rocky Mountains. The species is not particularly common anywhere, but the eastern race seems to be the best known. For a full discussion of the various races of the North American three-toed woodpeckers, the reader is referred to an extensive paper on the subject by Outram Bangs (1900). This woodpecker is not evenly distributed throughout its range but seems to be confined to certain rather limited and favorable localities. William Brewster (1898) found it breeding in the eastern part of Coos County, N. H., on the eastern side of a small pond; “where an elevated ridge approaches the pond the banks are above the reach of the highest floods and the land in the rear slopes gently upward. At this point a dense, vigorous forest of spruces, balsams and arbor vitaes, intermingled with a few deciduous trees, comes quite to the water’s edge and here, on June 2d, 1897, I found my first nest of the Banded Three-toed Woodpecker.”

In the same county, Charles L. Whittle (1920) found what he called a colony of three-toed woodpeckers in “a single small area of virgin forest containing abundant white spruces and balsams, the former splendid, healthy trees of large size, and the latter also large but having many trees diseased or decayed at the heart. * * * In the area of diseased balsams, a pleasant surprise awaited me, for here Three-toed Woodpeckers of both species, sexes, and all recognizable ages, were distinctly common--a colony, so to speak, temporarily concentrated owing to two factors: (1) The nearly complete destruction in this region of the former virgin forest of large conifers on which and in which they fed and nested; and (2) the presence of abundant food at this locality in the diseased balsam trees.”

Elon H. Eaton (1914) says:

In New York it is evidently confined to the Adirondack
forests. I have heard of no specimen taken farther from the
spruce belt than Waterville, Oneida county. It therefore
shares with the Spruce grouse, the Canada jay and the
Hudsonian chickadee the distinction of being one of our
perfectly nonmigratory species. Within the spruce and
balsam forests it is quite uniformly distributed, but is
less common than the Black-backed woodpecker, evidently
about one-half as common as that species. It inhabits both
the spruce swamps and the mountain sides. While making
the bird survey of the Mount Marcy district we found this
species breeding on the slopes of Marcy just above Skylight
camp, an altitude of 4,000 feet, and in the swamp at the
Upper Ausable lake at an altitude of 2,000 feet.

_Nesting._--Mr. Brewster (1898) describes, in considerable detail, the nest he found in a spruce tree in Coos County, N. H., as follows:

On measuring the spruce I found it to be thirty-nine inches
in circumference one foot above the ground, and twenty-nine
inches at the nest. The hole was on the west side at a
height above the ground of exactly ten feet and eleven
inches. The entrance hole was somewhat irregular outwardly
measuring about one and three quarters inches in breadth by
two inches in height--the greater diameter vertically being
due to the fact that the lower edges had been chiselled
away rather freely to afford a foothold for the bird; half
an inch in, the hole was perfectly round, and measured one
and one-half inches in diameter.

The interior or nest cavity was irregularly gourd-shaped
and ten and one-eighth inches in depth, its greatest
diameter, about four and one-half inches, being midway
between the bottom and top. The walls were rough and seamy
but this was not, perhaps, the fault of the birds, for the
wood, although soft and easily worked, had evidently peeled
off in long, stringy fibers.

The eggs lay on a deep mat of these shreds some of which
were more than one inch in length.

Dr. C. Hart Merriam informed Major Bendire (1895) that “numerous nests were found in the Adirondacks in June, 1883. Most of them were in the flooded timber bordering the inlet of Seventh Lake, Fulton Chain. They varied from 5 to 12 feet in height above the water, and were in spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam, and cedar trees.” The nests of this woodpecker are not always so low down as those mentioned above; Col. John E. Thayer took a set, near Upton, Maine, on June 9, 1898, that was 20 feet from the ground in an old dead spruce stub; and the nests that Mr. Eaton (1914) found in the Adirondacks “were situated in tamaracks and spruces from 25 to 40 feet from the ground.”

_Eggs._--Four seems to be the usual number of eggs laid by this woodpecker; I can find no record of either more or fewer in complete sets. The eggs are ovate, pure white, and only moderately glossy. The measurements of 43 eggs average 23.32 by 18.01 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =25.5= by 18.2, 23.8 by =19.6=, and =20.1= by =15.0= millimeters.

_Young._--The period of incubation is said to be about 14 days, and it is shared by both sexes. Both parents feed and care for the young, even after the young leave the nest, as family parties are seen traveling about together in summer.

_Plumages._--The nestlings are probably hatched naked and blind, as with other woodpeckers, but the juvenal plumage is acquired before the young leave the nest. In the juvenal plumage, the young male is similar to the adult male, but the yellow crown patch is smaller and less sharply defined; the upper parts are duller, brownish black instead of sooty black; the flanks are more heavily and more extensively banded, or spotted, with sepia instead of clear black; the white of the throat and breast is tinged with pale buffy. The juvenal female is similar to the young male, but the yellow crown patch is smaller, and the amount of yellow in it is very variable, sometimes only a few scattered feathers and sometimes a well-defined, clear patch. This plumage is worn at least through August and probably well into fall. The only molting adults I have seen were taken in August.

_Food._--The feeding habits of the American three-toed woodpecker are almost identical with that of the Arctic three-toed. Prof. F. E. L. Beal (1911) says:

The largest item with both species is wood-boring
coleopterous larvae. These amount to 64.25 percent with
_arcticus_ and 60.66 with _americanus_. Caterpillars, which
in this case are mostly wood-boring species, amount to
12.88 and 14.45 percent for the two birds respectively. The
total of wood-boring larvae, including both caterpillars
and beetles, is, 77.13 percent for _arcticus_ and 75.11
percent for _americanus_, or more than three-fourths of the
food of both species. * * *

Fruit skins were found in only one stomach of _americanus_
and mast in but one stomach of _arcticus_. Cambium was
found in 10 stomachs of _arcticus_ and 8 of _americanus_.
This indicates that these birds do some pecking at the bark
of living trees for other purposes than getting insects,
but no complaints have yet been made, from which we infer
that little or no damage is done; in fact the amount
contained in the stomachs is not large a little less than
10 percent.

E. H. Forbush (1927) says that “Miss Caroline E. Hamilton of Greenfield, Massachusetts, observed in late September an individual that remained in a yard from daylight till dark, making the rounds of the trees and remaining longest on the fruit trees at the tiny holes attributed to Sapsuckers. She said that the bird seemed to find good food in these pits, and it may have been eating some of the cambium.” He writes further:

Mr. E. O. Grant, a faithful correspondent of Patten, Maine,
travels over considerable region and north into Quebec,
spending much time in the woods. On March 6, 1922, he wrote
that the spruce budworm had killed about thirty percent
of the spruce in that region and nearly all the fir, and
that among the dead trees he saw hundreds of both the
three-toed species, together with nearly equal numbers
of Downy Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers. Food for the
birds was very plentiful, as dark-beetles and spruce-borers
were numerous. When an invasion of caterpillars strips
coniferous trees and thus exposes their trunks and
branches to the hot summer sun, dark-beetles attack and
virtually girdle them with numerous tunnels beneath the
bark; borers get in and sometimes most of the trees die.
The woodpeckers, concentrating on these dead trees from
all the forest around about, help to keep down the undue
increase of bark-beetles and borers which, if they became
too numerous, might attack some live trees.

_Behavior._--Lucien M. Turner says in his unpublished notes: “The manner of flight of this species is less vigorous than in _Picoides arcticus_, yet differing in a manner that is difficult to describe; the unfolding of the wings when preparing to make the upward swoop is quicker, the stroke of the wing not so strong, and the plunge not so deep.”

Both species of three-toed woodpeckers are fearless birds, tame, and unsuspicious, probably because of their unfamiliarity with man and his hostile intentions; both are less active than most other woodpeckers, this species being particularly quiet in its movements and sedentary in its habits. Mr. Brewster (1898) writes:

My previous impression that _Picoides americanus_ is a very
much less active and restless bird than _P. arcticus_,
was fully confirmed by the behavior of this male who was
almost if not quite as slow and lethargic of movement as
a sapsucker. He would spend minutes at a time clinging to
one spot and when he moved up the tree trunks it was in a
singularly slow, deliberate manner. Only when at or near
the nest did he show real animation. * * *

I have rarely seen a nesting bird so alert and keen of
hearing as was this _Picoides_. The sound of our voices or
the slightest noise made by an oar or paddle would bring
him at once to the entrance of the hole, even when we were
forty or fifty yards away, and every few minutes when we
were sitting perfectly still he would look out turning
his head in every direction. He would not leave the hole,
however, until we were within a few yards of the foot of
the tree and after he had drummed awhile he would return
to the stub while we were sitting near its base with the
camera directed towards it. * * *

On returning to the stub the bird would usually strike
against it about two feet below the hole and reaching it
by two or three quick, upward hops would cling to its
lower edge, alternately looking in and down at us. * * *
He did not once enter the nest while we were near the
tree, nor did he again attempt to mislead us by pecking at
the bark, evidently realizing that this ruse had failed.
When he flew back into the woods he always took one of two
courses and along each he invariably alighted not only on
the same trees but on the same spot on each tree. He had
one particular place on the trunk of a large spruce where
he would spend ten or fifteen minutes at a time pluming
himself and watching us, before returning to the nest.

Major Bendire (1895) quotes the following from Dr. C. Hart Merriam:

We had just crossed the boundary line between Lewis and
Herkimer counties, when Mr. Bagg called my attention to a
“fresh hole,” about 8 feet from the ground, in a spruce
tree near by. On approaching the tree a yellow crown
appeared in the hole, showing that the male bird was “at
home.” To prevent his escape I jumped toward the tree and
introduced three fingers, which were immediately punctured
in a manner so distasteful to their proprietor as to
necessitate an immediate withdrawal and exchange for the
muzzle of my friend’s gun. A handkerchief was next crowded
into the hole, but was instantly riddled and driven out
by a few blows from his terrible bill. It was then held
loosely over the hole, and as the bird emerged I secured
and killed him.

Wendell Taber had a good chance to observe one of these woodpeckers at short range in Grafton County, N. H., on May 31, 1937, about which he writes to me: “The bird was intent upon obtaining its food and ignored our presence. Most of the time the bird would fly to a tree and alight at a height of 20 to 25 feet, then work downward, hopping backward. Particularly it seemed to enjoy prodding around on the base of a tree at or within an inch or two of where tree and earth met. Drilling was barely audible, even when the bird was close-to. Both live and dead trees were attacked impartially. There was no strip act--the bark was not peeled off. There was a row of dead trees at the edge of the forest, which might well have been concentrated on, but which, actually, was attacked only in a haphazard manner along with trees alive in the forest. If anything, more attention was given to live trees.”

_Voice._--The three-toed woodpecker is normally a rather silent bird. Its weak notes have been likened to the squealing notes of the yellow-bellied sapsucker, or the squeak of a small mammal; it also utters a variety of short notes like _queep_ or _quip_. Horace W. Wright (1911) says: “The calls of the _americanus_ male bird were not excited or loud. The single calls were somewhat like the robin’s call at dusk, and the rattling calls resembled a Hairy Woodpecker’s rattle, but were less loud and sharp.”

Mr. Brewster (1898) writes:

I had abundant opportunities for studying the drumming call
today. It varied in duration from one to two seconds (never
running over or under these limits) but was usually one and
a half to one and three quarters seconds. The intervals
between the calls were too irregular to be worth recording.
The first three or four taps were slightly slower and
more disconnected than the remaining ones but the general
effect was that of a uniform roll similar to that made
by the Downy and the Hairy Woodpecker, but less loud and
penetrating. Still it carried well and under favorable
conditions could be heard fully one quarter of a mile away.
* * *

After drumming a dozen times or more he gave a long vocal
call closely similar to the Kingfisher-like rattle of the
Hairy Woodpecker.

_Field marks._--The American three-toed woodpecker is the only woodpecker likely to be seen in the northern woods that has a black back transversely barred with white, white under parts banded with black on the flanks, and a black crown, with or without a yellow crown patch; the yellow patch is very prominent in the adult male and less so in the young birds of both sexes, but lacking in the adult female. In flight the “ladderback” is more conspicuous than when the bird is at rest, and the tail flashes white.

_Winter._--Both species of three-toed woodpeckers are mainly resident throughout the year within their breeding ranges, as their normal food supply is as easily available in winter as in summer. Consequently few species of birds are less inclined to migrate than these woodpeckers. However, on rare occasions this woodpecker has been known to appear in winter somewhat south of its summer range. Probably these southward movements have been due to some shortage of food in its summer home, or an unusual supply of it further south, or, possibly, an unusually successful breeding season may have overcrowded the home range and caused an exodus.

DISTRIBUTION

_Range._--Northern Europe, Asia, and North America, south through high mountainous regions to about latitude 35° N.; nonmigratory.

In North America the range of the three-toed woodpecker extends =north= to northern Alaska (Kowak River, Tanana, Beaver Creek, Fort Yukon, Circle, and Charlie Creek); northern Yukon (Forty Mile and probably Coal Creek); Mackenzie (Fort McPherson, Fort Goodhope, Fort Anderson, Fort Rae, and Fort Smith); northern Manitoba (Fort Du Brochet and Churchill); northern Ontario (Fort Albany); northern Quebec (Fort Chimo); and Labrador (Okak). =East= to Labrador (Okak and Nain); Newfoundland (South Exploit River); northeastern Maine (Presque Isle); and New Hampshire (Lake Umbagog and Mount Jefferson). =South= to northern New Hampshire (Mount Jefferson); northern New York (Long Lake and Moose River); probably northern Michigan (Isle Royal); northern Minnesota (Lake Itasca); northern New Mexico (Pecos Baldy and Chuska Mountains); Arizona (White Mountains, San Francisco Mountain, and Kaibab Plateau); east-central Nevada (Snake Mountains); and southwestern Oregon (Four-mile Lake). =West= to western Oregon (Four-mile Lake); Washington (Blue Mountains, probably Mount Rainier, and Mount Baker); British Columbia (Chilliwack, Clinton, Willow River, and Hazelton); and Alaska (Chichagof Island, Glacier, Copper River, Lake Clark, Mount McKinley, Nulato, and Kowak River).

Several races of this species have been recognized, three of which are included in the range above outlined. The American three-toed woodpecker (_P. t. bacatus_) ranges from Maine, Newfoundland, and Labrador west to northern Manitoba and southern Mackenzie; the Alpine three-toed woodpecker (_P. t. dorsalis_) is the Rocky Mountain form and is found in that region from Montana and Idaho south to the higher mountains of New Mexico and Arizona; the Alaska three-toed woodpecker (_P. t. fasciatus_) is found from Alaska, Yukon, and western Mackenzie south to Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

While the three-toed woodpecker is not regularly migratory, it appears likely that during severe winters it withdraws somewhat from the northern parts of its range. At this season it is occasionally collected or observed short distances south of its normal range (Massachusetts, southern Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and southern New Mexico).

_Egg dates._--Alberta: 8 records, May 23 to June 16.
Arctic America: 5 records, May 15 to June 9.
Labrador: 3 records, May 26 and 27.
New York: 3 records, May 14 to June 8.

PICOÏDES TRIDACTYLUS FASCIATUS Baird

ALASKA THREE-TOED WOODPECKER

HABITS

The range of this race of the three-toed woodpecker extends throughout the Hudsonian and Canadian Zones of western Canada and Alaska, and a short distance southward into some of the Western States, where it intergrades with the next form in the boreal forests of the Rocky Mountains.

Ridgway (1914) describes it as similar to the eastern race, “but with much more white on back, the white bars much larger and more or less coalesced along median line, forming a more or less continuous longitudinal patch; whitish spots on forehead much larger, sometimes coalesced into a nearly uniform dull white frontal area; upper tail-coverts and lower rump barred or spotted with white; sometimes even the wing-coverts and middle rectrices are spotted with white; black malar stripe narrower and usually less distinct, and black bars on sides and flanks narrower; averaging slightly larger.”

Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says that this woodpecker occurs “on the headwaters of the Mackenzie River, extending thence north along the course of this stream and the Anderson River, and westward, covering all the wooded portions of Northern Alaska to the northern tree-limit, * * * outnumbering by far the combined numbers of all the other woodpeckers of that region. * * * On the Yukon these birds are said to prefer the groves of poplar and willow to the spruces.”

Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) says: “This, the only species of woodpecker detected by me in the Kowak region, was resident throughout the year. It could scarcely be called common, though its borings were noticed in nearly every tract of spruces visited.” J. A. Munro (1919), referring to the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, says: “This species is resident and fairly common in Murray pine, Western larch, and spruce forests. I have never found them in yellow pine or Douglas fir country. They prefer the burnt areas of timber, and specimens collected are generally stained with charcoal on the underparts.”

_Nesting._--The nesting habits of this woodpecker do not differ materially from those of its eastern relative. Bendire (1895) mentions two sets of eggs, collected by MacFarlane in the Anderson River region, of which he says: “A single egg, originally from a set of three taken on May 30, 1863, accompanied by the female bird, was taken from a cavity in a pine tree, 4 feet from the ground, and another set of four, of which there are three eggs remaining, and likewise accompanied by the male bird, was taken on June 5, 1864, from a hole in a dry spruce, situated about 6 feet from the ground. The eggs from the last set were said to have been lying on the decayed dust of the tree, and were perfectly fresh when found.”

Laing and Taverner (1929) found an abandoned nest in the Chitina River region, Alaska, of which they say: “Tree, about 15 inches in diameter at butt, had a dead top and nest in this dead portion, about 40 feet aloft. Dimensions as follows: diameter of door barely 2 inches; depth of nest 9½ inches; greatest diameter 3 inches. Barrel of nest quite cylindrical.”

There is a set of four eggs in my collection, taken by Richard C. Harlow near Belvedere, Alberta, on May 29, 1926. The nest was about 20 feet above ground in a dead tamarack stub, among a scattered growth of tamaracks, in a muskeg, near a lake; the eggs lay on a bed of chips 10 inches below the entrance.

Mr. Munro (1919) writes: “On May 28, 1917, I found a nest that had just been finished, thirty feet from the ground in a dead Murray pine. The entrance was smaller than would be expected, slightly over one and a half inches, and the hole about fourteen inches deep.”

_Eggs._--The eggs of the Alaska three-toed woodpecker are indistinguishable from those of the eastern race. The measurements of 12 eggs average 22.08 by 17.09 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =23.6= by =18.1=, =20.8= by 16.8, and 21.5 by =16.5= millimeters.

_Behavior._--The plumages, feeding habits, and general behavior of this race do not differ materially from those of the species elsewhere, but Maj. Allan Brooks (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) has given a good description of a habit that seems to be shared by both species of _Picoïdes_ and that has been referred to by others; he writes:

When shot, even if instantly killed, three-toed woodpeckers
of both species have a marvelous faculty of remaining
clinging to the tree in death. Where the trunks are draped
with _Usnea_ moss, it is impossible to bring one down,
except when winged--then they attempt to fly, and fall
to earth; but when killed outright they remain securely
fastened by their strong curved claws. * * * The only
chance is to leave the bird and to visit the foot of the
tree when the relaxing muscles have at length permitted the
body to drop--usually within two days. Once I was fortunate
enough to observe the exact position that enabled the bird
to maintain its grip. I had shot and killed an Arctic
Three-toed Woodpecker on a low stump. On going up I found
the bird’s feet to be three inches apart by measurement;
the tail was firmly braced, and the further the body was
tilted back the more firmly the claws held in the bark.

Dr. Grinnell (1900) says: “In the fall and mid-winter these birds are silent and seldom seen. But after the first of March their drumming on some resonant dead tree was heard nearly every morning. This sound could be heard a long distance through the quiet woods, giving notice of the whereabouts of the woodpeckers.”

PICOÏDES TRIDACTYLUS DORSALIS Baird

ALPINE THREE-TOED WOODPECKER

HABITS

This race of the three-toed woodpeckers enjoys the most southern distribution of any of the birds of this genus, ranging from northern Montana to northern Arizona and New Mexico, in the boreal forests of the Rocky Mountains. Ridgway (1914) characterizes it as “similar to white-backed examples of _P. a. fasciatus_, but larger; white markings on back usually all longitudinal (very rarely with any transverse bars of black), white supra-auricular streak usually broader, forehead usually with more black and less whitish spotting, white spots or bars on inner web of innermost secondaries larger, and sides and flanks usually less barred with black.”

The Weydemeyers (1928) say that in northwestern Montana, “unlike _arcticus_, this species prefers dense, virgin forests to cut-over woods and open woodland pastures. * * * In the higher elevations, this woodpecker may be found in white pine, lodgepole pine, alpine fir, and Engelmann spruce forests. In the Transition zone, it shows a preference for spruce woods, with larch and yellow pine forests as second choice. In the Canadian zone, this species is somewhat commoner than _arcticus_; in the Transition zone, it occurs only about one-third as frequently as does the larger bird.”