BIRDS OF NEW YORK I_|7 



forests. I have heard of no specimen taken farther from the spruce belt 



than Waterville, Oneida county. It therefore shares with the Spruce 



grouse, the Canada jay and the Hudsonian chickadee the distinction of 



being one of our perfectly nonmigratory species. Within the spruce and 



balsam forests it is quite uniformly distributed, but is less common than the 



Black-backed woodpecker, evidently about one-half as common as that 



species. It inhabits both the spruce swamps and the mountain sides. 



While making the bird survey of the Mt Marcy district we found this 



species breeding on the slopes of Marcy just above Skylight camp, an 



altitude of 4000 feet, and in the swamp at the Upper Ausable lake at an 



altitude of 2000 feet. In our experience the birds are even less noisy than 



the black-backed species. We could scarcely distinguish them from that 



species by their call, but Turner (Bendire's Life Histories) mentions only 



a squealing note like the Sapsucker's. At that season of the year (July 1) 



the old birds were either feeding the young in the nest or leading them from 



tree to tree. They confined their attention almost entirely to tamarack, 



spruce and fir trees and evidently feed principally, if not entirely, upon 



the beetles and their larvae found beneath the dead bark. The nests 



which we found were situated in tamaracks and spruces from 25 to 40 feet 



from the ground and could not be distinguished from nesting holes of the 



black-backed woodpeckers except that on careful measurement they were 



about one-fourth of an inch less in diameter. From the experience of 



Doctor Merriam, their nests are found in spruce, tamarack, pine, balsam 



and cedar in order of preference, about 6 or 7 feet above the water line. 



In the swamps about Sixth and Seventh lakes in Hamilton county, he 



found them mating on the 18th of May at Woodhull, Oneida county, but 



found the 2nd of June too early for eggs at Sixth lake. In the Smithsonian 



collection I find several sets of eggs taken at Moose river and Sixth lake 



from the 4th to the 10th of June. Evidently this is the usual nesting time 



in the Adirondacks. The eggs are 4 in number, slightly smaller than those 



of the black-backed woodpecker, averaging .92 by .70 inches in dimensions. 

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