Dr. Cooper met with a straggler of this species in the valley of the Colorado,
shot on the 12th of March, 1861. In September, 1863, he found them rather common near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, where he shot two. It has since been met with at Laramie Peak, and near the mouth of the Klamath River.
It was found by Mr. Ridgway on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and again on the Wahsatch Mountains; in both regions inhabiting the pine forests exclusively, and in neither place at all common. It occurred so seldom that Mr. Ridgway could learn but little concerning the peculiarities of its habits, etc. Its common note is a plaintive wailing squeal, much like that of S. varius (common to all the members of the genus), but other notes were heard which were quite peculiar.
Sphyropicus thyroideus, Baird.
BROWN-HEADED WOODPECKER.
Picus thyroideus, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Dec. 1851, 349 (California).—Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Ph. 2d ser. II, 1853, 270.—Sundevall, Consp. 32. Melanerpes thyroideus, Cassin, Ill. I, 1854, 201, pl. xxxii. Pilumnus thyroideus, Bon. Consp. Zygod. Aten. Ital. 1854, 8. Sphyropicus thyroideus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 106—Elliot, Ill. Birds N. Am. II, pl.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54.—Cass. P. A. N. S. 1863, 204.—Gray, Cat. 52.—Elliot, B. Am. I, pl. xxxv.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 394. ? ? Picus nataliæ, Malherbe, Cab. Journ. f. Ornith. 1854, 171.
Sp. Char. About the size of P. varius. Head dark ashy-brown; general color ashy-brown; head and neck scarcely marked; middle line of belly sulphur-yellow; rump and upper coverts pure white; rest of body apparently encircled by narrow transverse and continuous bands (crossing the wings and tail) of black, the outer spaces becoming whiter behind; a large round black patch on the breast. No red on top of the head. Male with reddish chin. Length, about 9.00; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.10.
Hab. Cascade and Coast Ranges of California and Oregon; Sierra Nevada, Wahsatch, and Rocky Mountains. Localities: West Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 54).
In addition to the characters already assigned, the crown of the head is indistinctly streaked or spotted with black. The under coverts are barred with black. The tail-feathers are black, the inner and outer barred transversely with white on both webs; the shafts, however, entirely black. The quills are all spotted with white on both webs.
The jugular black patch shows more or less indication of the transverse bands, and is sometimes wanting, leaving the bands distinct. In one specimen (38,285 ♀, Laramie Peak) it is remarkably large and almost unbroken, while the black malar stripe is decidedly indicated; on the back the black bars much exceed in width the light ones, which are nearly white. The generic rictal white stripe is usually inappreciable, as also the black maxillary one, although both can be detected in some specimens.