132 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



sound for such a place, the noise of wood cut- 

 ting, a close imitation of the sound made when 

 striking a chisel with a mallet. If you listen for 

 a time you will also hear the cry of this wood- 

 land carpenter, as he ceases his labors momen- 

 tarily to send out his bold challenge; or is he 

 talking with himself? ^'Cack, cack, chuck, chuck, 

 chuck, chuck, hi, hi^^ he goes on, and if you are 

 so fortunate as to approach near enough to see 

 him, you will be surprised at the way he makes 

 the chips fly. His red-capped head rises and 

 falls with great precision and the sound of rip- 

 ping wood and bark is distinctly heard. The 

 exposed grub is quickly devoured, and away 

 goes this "Cock o' the Woods" in a direct 

 flight, with none of the wavy motion peculiar to 

 all other members of the family. 



In the thick woods on the hill back of our 

 house, one day I found a hemlock tree where a 

 Pileated Woodpecker had lately worked, and 

 the sight was most surprising. There was a half 

 bushel of chips, some of them five inches long 

 and an inch wide, cut from the solid wood of 

 the tree which appeared to be entirely sound, 

 and was about sixteen inches in diameter. He 

 had cut eight holes clear to the heart, two of 

 which were eight inches long and four inches 

 wide, tapering inward. A careful inspection con- 

 vinced me that he was not seeking wood borers, 

 but that the tree was shaky at heart and black 

 ants had ascended to winter there. The holes 

 enabled him to reach these acrid insects as they 

 passed up and down between the shaky rings 

 near the heart of the tree. But what puzzled me 



