LEWIS WOODPECKER. Asyndesmus lewisi Riley

Field characters.—Size little larger than robin; wings long. Back and head black-appearing; belly pale red; breast and collar around neck hoary white. (See pl. 5a). No white on wings, tail or rump. Flight nearly direct, with continuously beating wings.

Occurrence.—Irregular, both seasonally and zonally. Stations and dates of record are: Snelling, May 26, 1915; Lagrange, December 15, 1915; Pleasant Valley, May 22 and 24, and December 4, 1915; Goffs, December 12, 1914; above Ten Lakes, October 11, 1915; Walker Lake, May 9 and June 24, 1916; near Williams Butte, September 23, 1915; and Mono Mills, June 8, 1916. Recorded in Yosemite Valley, September 22, 1917 (Mailliard, 1918, p. 18) and September 8 to 13 and 22, 1920 (C. W. Michael, MS). Frequents scattered timber.

The Lewis Woodpecker is a wanderer, and is likely to be seen sometime or another at almost any place in the Yosemite section. It seems to have no preference for any one type of country, save that it avoids the heavier forests; it was apparently as much at home in the blue oaks around Pleasant Valley as in the Jeffrey pines at Walker Lake.

The manner of flight of the Lewis is different from that of all other woodpeckers with which we are familiar. The long wings beat almost continuously, in crow fashion, and the course through the air is nearly direct. These peculiarities in movement together with the black back, wings, and tail, the pinkish cast of the plumage beneath, and the absence of clear white areas, large or small, anywhere on the bird, are the best field marks. (See pl. 5a).

On May 24, 1915, about 8 of these birds were seen at Pleasant Valley, but they gave no indications that they were nesting. On December 15, 1915, at Lagrange, the species was locally common, about 20 being seen in a two hour census. Mr. Charles W. Michael (MS) saw at least 5 daily below the village in Yosemite Valley from September 8 to 13, 1920. The birds were often active in an apple tree there. At Walker Lake, a pair had its nest in a dead pine stub (fig. 48b). The young were being fed in this nest on June 24, 1916.