This large northern race of the hairy woodpecker inhabits the Canadian Zone of northern North America, north almost to the limit of trees, from central Alaska and northern Canada southward. In the eastern portions of southern Canada it intergrades with typical _villosus_, and in northwestern Montana with _monticola_, where the ranges of these races meet. Specimens have been taken as far north as Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie River, in latitude 62° N., and at Fort Reliance, on the upper Yukon River, Alaska, in about latitude 66° N. It may occur as a straggler farther north, where it can find sufficient tree growth, but it is said to be rare north of latitude 56° N., and apparently it does not reach the Arctic coast or the coast of Bering Sea. It is a decidedly larger bird than typical _villosus_, the white markings average rather larger, and the white is purer. In the southern portion of its range, where it begins to intergrade with _villosus_, these characters are, of course, less pronounced and many individuals are difficult to name. Living in a region over much of which coniferous forests predominate, this woodpecker frequents and breeds in this type of forest. Winton and Donald Weydemeyer (1928) say that it is an abundant permanent resident in Lincoln County, Mont., where it intergrades with _monticola_. They also say: In the valleys it is most numerous, during summer, in forests containing a large percentage stand of western larch (_Larix occidentalis_). The next trees in attractiveness seem to be Douglas fir (_Pseudotsuga taxifolia_), western yellow pine (_Pinus ponderosa_), and Engelmann spruce (_Picea engelmanni_), in the order named. In the Hudsonian zone it frequents trees of white-bark pine (_Pinus albicaulis_) and alpine larch (_Larix lyallii_). The species is noticeably rare or absent in forests containing nearly pure stands of western white pine (_Pinus monticola_), arborvitae (_Thuja plicata_), or lodgepole pine (_Pinus contorta_), except where the woods have been logged or injured by fire. _Nesting._--The same observers say: “In Lincoln County this species uses a wide variety of nesting sites. Of eight nests included in our records, three were in live aspens; one in a live cottonwood; one in a live larch; one in a dead larch, one in a dead Douglas fir; and one in a woodpecker nesting box.” Ernest Thompson Seton (1890) found a nest in a tall poplar tree about 30 feet from the ground, in Manitoba; the hole was about a foot deep, 3 inches wide inside and 2 inches at the entrance. John Macoun (1909) quotes Rev. C. J. Young as saying: “Most of the nests I have seen have been in wet places or near water, and almost all were in white ash trees, from thirty to fifty feet from the ground. Two nests were in elm trees and one in a telegraph pole by the roadside not more than ten feet from the ground.”