Their flight is short and rapid, resembling that of other allied species. They are not social, never more than the members of one family being seen together. They feed chiefly on insects and their larvæ, often seizing the former on the wing. In the autumn they occasionally eat berries, seeds, and small fruit. Their notes are sharp and loud, uttered in monosyllables, at times with great frequency.
An egg of this species, taken in Roxbury, Mass., is of a pure crystal whiteness, oblong in shape, and equally rounded at either end, measuring 1.01 inches in length by .72 of an inch in breadth. Another, from Georgia, is more rounded at one end, and measures 1.02 inches in length and .75 of an inch in breadth.
Picus villosus, var. harrisi, Aud.
HARRIS’S WOODPECKER.
Picus harrisi, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 191, pl. ccccxvii.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 178.—Ib. Birds America, IV, 1842, 242, pl. cclxi (dark-bellied variety).—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 627.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 87.—Sundevall, Mon. 17.—Lord, Pr. R. Art. Ass. IV, 111 (nesting).—Coues, Pr. A. N. S. 1866, 52 (Oregon).—Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. I, 1869, 562 (Alpine regions of Vera Cruz).—Gray, Catal. 1868, 47.—Caban. J. 1862, 175.—Cassin, P. A. N. S. 1863, 200.—Cooper & Suckley, 159.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 375. ? Picus inornatus, Licht. (Bon. Consp.). Picus (Trichopicus) harrisi, Bp. Consp. Zyg. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Dryobates harrisi, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 68 (jardini, 69.) Picus jardini, Malh. Rev. Zoöl. Oct. 1845, 374 (Mexico).—Cab. Jour. 1862, 175. Picus hyloscopus, Cab. & Hein. Mus. Hein. IV, 2, 1863, 69 (white-bellied form).
Sp. Char. Similar to typical villosus; the innermost of the greater wing-coverts and of the secondary quills without any white spots externally; varying from this to the entire absence of exposed white on wing except on the outer web of longest primaries. Belly varying from pure white to smoky or fulvous gray, white of tail-feathers very rarely blotched with black. Average length, in north, 9.00; wing, 5.00; exposed part of culmen, 1.15.
Var. jardini much smaller. Length, 7.00; wing, 3.90; culmen, .85.
Hab. Whole of Western United States, west of the Missouri plains, extending into Mexico and Central America, where it passes into the smallest and darkest southern extreme, known as P. jardini. Localities: West Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 52); Vera Cruz, Alpine regions (Sumichrast, M. Bost. Soc. I, 1869, 562).
In the preceding article we have given some general remarks on Harris’s Woodpecker, and shown why we cannot consider it a well-defined species. If the specimens from the extreme west were constant in themselves, and the variations, as with Colaptes hybridus, occurred along the line of contact with villosus, we might refer to hybrids many of the intermediate forms; but as scarcely any two are alike, even on the Pacific coast, such a view is inadmissible. As, however, in the extreme limits of variation, there is yet a
difference from eastern specimens, and this is characteristic of a large area of country, it may be proper to recognize the form by the name harrisi.