This Woodpecker ranges as far south as the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, and is not uncommon there in the few localities which possess wild forests. It is the handsomest of our Woodpeckers, having brighter tints than its congener of the plains, Colaptes agricola. Like that bird, though not to the same extent, it has diverged from the typical Picidæ in its habits, alighting sometimes on the ground to feed, and also frequently perching crosswise on branches of trees. It has a powerful, clear, abrupt, and oft-repeated note, and a rapid undulating flight.
The following interesting account of its breeding-habits appears in one of Mr. Gibson’s papers:—“The excavation for the nest is begun as early as September; but the eggs are only laid during the first half of October. The hole is generally commenced where some branch has decayed away; but care is taken that the remainder of the tree is sound. It opens at a height of from six to nine feet from the ground, and is excavated to a depth of nearly a foot. Occasionally it is sufficiently wide to admit of one’s hand, but such is not always the case. No preparation is made for the eggs beyond the usual lining of some chips of wood.
“The pair which frequented the garden excavated a hole in a paradise-tree, and bred there for two consecutive years. The tree stood near one of the walks, and on any one passing the sitting bird immediately showed its head at the aperture, like a jack-in-the-box, and then flew away. Last year this pair actually bred in one of the posts of the horse-corral, notwithstanding the noise and bustle incident to such a locality. While waiting there, at sunrise, for the herd of horses to be shut in I used often to knock at the post, in order to make the Woodpecker leave its nest, but the bird seemed indifferent to such a mild attack, and would even sit still while a hundred horses and mares rushed about the corral or hurled themselves against the sides of it. In another case I had worked with hammer and chisel for half-an-hour, cutting a hole on a level with the bottom of a nest, when the female first demonstrated her presence by flying out almost into my face. This last nest contained four (considerably incubated) eggs, which I took. Happening to pass the spot a fortnight after, I inspected the hole and was surprised to find that it had been deepened and other five eggs laid, while the entrance I had cut was the one now used by the birds. The nest was again resorted to the following year and a brood hatched out, but since then a pair of Wrens have occupied the place to the exclusion of the rightful owners.”
The eggs are white, four or five in number, pear-shaped, and with polished shells.
White obtained specimens of this Woodpecker in Catamarca, and Mr. Barrows found it resident in Entrerios. The latter tells us it is “abundant in the woods everywhere, and conspicuous for its activity, bright colours, and large size.”
[258.] LEUCONERPES CANDIDUS (Otto).
(WHITE-BELLIED WOODPECKER.)
Leuconerpes candidus, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 445 (Paraná, Cordova); Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 100; Salvin, Ibis, 1880, p. 361 (Salta); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 618 (Misiones); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 25 (Entrerios).
Description.—Above white; wings and upper back, with a line on each side running up to the eye, black; nape tinged with yellow: beneath white; tail black, with white cross bands: whole length 11·0 inches, wing 5·5, tail 4·5. Female similar, but without the yellow on the nape.
Hab. S. Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Northern Argentina.