The scientific publications of the National Museum include two series, known, respectively, as _Proceedings_ and _Bulletin_. The _Proceedings_ series, begun in 1878, is intended primarily as a medium for the publication of original papers, based on the collections of the National Museum, that set forth newly acquired facts in biology, anthropology, and geology, with descriptions of new forms and revisions of limited groups. Copies of each paper, in pamphlet form, are distributed as published to libraries and scientific organizations and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects. The dates at which these separate papers are published are recorded in the table of contents of each of the volumes. The series of _Bulletins_, the first of which was issued in 1875, contains separate publications comprising monographs of large zoological groups and other general systematic treatises (occasionally in several volumes), faunal works, reports of expeditions, catalogs of type specimens, special collections, and other material of similar nature. The majority of the volumes are octavo in size, but a quarto size has been adopted in a few instances in which large plates were regarded as indispensable. In the _Bulletin_ series appear volumes under the heading _Contributions from the United States National Herbarium_, in octavo form, published by the National Museum since 1902, which contain papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum. The present work forms No. 174 of the _Bulletin_ series. ALEXANDER WETMORE, _Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution_. WASHINGTON, D. C., _March 22, 1939_. CONTENTS Page Introduction VII Order PICIFORMES 1 Family Picidae: American woodpeckers 1 Campephilus principalis: Ivory-billed woodpecker 1 Habits 1 Distribution 12 Dryobates villosus villosus: Eastern hairy woodpecker 13 Habits 13 Distribution 23 Dryobates villosus septentrionalis: Northern hairy woodpecker 25 Habits 25 Dryobates villosus auduboni: Southern hairy woodpecker 27 Habits 27 Dryobates villosus harrisi: Harris’s woodpecker 29 Habits 29