106 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



The habits of this bird are so well known, that any 

 description here seems to be a work of supererogation. 

 About the first week in May, the males begin to pay court 

 to the females ; at this period their movements are amusing. 



"■ Their note is merriment itself, as it imitates a prolonged and 

 jovial laugh, heard at a considerable distance. Several males pur- 

 sue a female, reach her, and, to prove the force and truth of their 

 love, bow their heads, spread their tails, and move sidewise, back- 

 wards, and forwards, performing such antics as might induce any one 

 witnessing them, if not of a most morose temper, to join his laugh 

 to theirs. The female flies to another tree, where she is closely fol- 

 lowed by one, two, or even half a dozen of these gay suitors, and 

 where again the same ceremonies are gone through. No fightings 

 occur, no jealousies seem to exist among these beaux, until a marked 

 preference is shown to some individual, when the rejected proceed 

 in search of another female. In this manner, all the Golden- 

 winged Woodpeckers are soon happily mated. Each pair imme- 

 diately proceed to excavate the trunk of a tree, and finish a hole in 

 it sufficient to contain themselves and their young. They both 

 work with great industry and apparent pleasure. Should the male, 

 for instance, be employed, the female is close to him, and congratu- 

 lates him on the removal of every chip which his bill sends 

 through the air. While he rests, he appears to be speaking to her 

 on the most tender subjects, and when fatigued is at once assisted 

 by her. In this manner, by the alternate exertions of each, the 

 hole is dug and finished." — Audubon. 



This is often as much as twenty inches in depth, and in 

 a solid tree very often at that. On the bottom of this hole, 

 the female lays six pure-white eggs : these are generally of 

 uniform ovoidal shape, and vary in size from 1 to 1.16 inch 

 in length, by from .82 to .92 in breadth. 



When the eggs are removed, the female, after a couple 

 of days' deliberation, lays another litter ; and I have known 

 of this being repeated several times by a bird that was 

 unwilling to leave the nest which she and her mate had 

 been at so much labor to prepare. Instances have occurred 



