440 



THE NORTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



(leveli:)])inent of the hyoid bones witli their muscular attachments. Tliese 

 extend backward from the base of tlie tongue over and around the skull, 

 nearh' to the u])])er base of the bird's bill again. 



The great forest tires which have ravaged our State ha\'e proved a god- 

 send to the Woodpeckers, altho they are in no way responsible for them. 

 The Pileated Woodpecker does his share in staying tlie ra\-ages of the wood- 

 working insects, but he is even more interested in the spoliation of fallen logs 

 and so liastens rather than retards decay. A ]iair of these Woodijeckers will 

 gradually tear a rotten log to pieces in pursuit of the grubs and wnoihboring 

 ants which it harbors. They are shy or confiding just in proportion to the 

 amount of persecution which they have been called upon to endure. I ha\'e 

 waited half a day trying to get a specimen, and again I have sal under a 

 shower of chips or 

 ogled a bus}' pair in 

 the o]ien at forty feet. 



The Log-cock has a 

 varielx' of notes, and 

 one who learns them 

 will find the bird much 

 more common than he 

 may ha\'e sup]30sed. 

 The most noteworthy 

 of these is a high- 

 pitched stentorian call. 

 which is not exactly 

 laughter, altho some- 

 thing like it in form, 

 /;.//■ lia ha ha ha ha ha 

 ha hit. '".At a distance 

 this call sounds me- 

 tallic ; but when at close 

 range it is sent echoing 

 thru the forest, it is 

 full and clear, and it is 

 the most untamalily 

 wild sound among bird 

 notes." 



In this connection I 

 wish to mention a mys- 

 terious sound which I 

 have several times j-,,;,..,, ,„ p,v,.„. co,n,ty. Photo by j. h. bo-.oIcs. 



heard in the depths of pileated woodi-eckek le-winc, .\est. 



