436 



THE NORTHWEST SAPSUCKER. 



defeat at the end of it : but, of course, if one wanted eggs, one had to go after 

 tlieni. Fir.st, we laid out a Hljeral >ui)i)ly of stout two-foot fir cleats, and a 

 couple of pounds of small sjiikes. A ladder ga\-e us a twenty-foot start, after 

 which I nailed up the cleats with the aid of a three-quarter-inch rope passed 



round the tree and my body My com- 

 panion at the bottom of the tree supplied 

 building materials which I hoisted from 

 time to time h\' means of another rope. 



In this laborious fashion the nest was 

 reached. The birds, meanwhile, having be- 

 come increasinglv anxiiius, made frequent 

 approaches from a neighboring tree, crying, 

 L\'L'-a. kcc-iui. in helpless bewilderment. 

 S e \' e r a 1 times they 

 lighted near the scene 

 of operations, but were 

 frightened off by the 

 resounding blows of 

 the hand-axe. W^hen 

 all was over, they 

 raised a high, strong 

 qnc-oo. — qiic-oi), never 

 before lieard, and re- 

 minding (ine generic- 

 ally of the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker of boyhood 

 days. 



By the time I had a 

 hole large enough to 

 thrust in the hand, the 

 eggs were quite buried 

 in chips and rotten 

 wood. But when they 

 were uncovered, they 

 were seen to lie, seven 

 of them, in two reg- 

 ular lines, four in 

 the. front rank witli 

 sides touching evenly, and three in the rear with points dove-tailed between. 

 There was, of course, no lining for the nest, save the rotten wood itself. The 

 eggs were perfectlv fresh and had a warm ])\u\< tint before the contents were 



Taken near Blaine. Photo by Victor Savings 



NESTING SITE OF THE NORTHWEST SAPSUCKER. 



