28 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



site, varying from 25 to 60 feet up, the cavity from eight to twelve 

 inches deep. They are one of our earliest breeding birds, the drilling 

 of the nesting cavity beginning the last week in March, and by April 

 10th to 15th finds a full complement or set of eggs, numbering from 

 four to six." 



J. G. Suthard writes to me of a nest he found near Madisonville, 

 Ky. The cavity was "excavated in a dead crab apple stub in open 

 woodland. Only the female was observed excavating the hole and 

 caring for the eggs, which proved to be infertile. No male was ever 

 observed near the nesting stub, though it was carefully observed." 

 M. G. Vaiden tells me of a nest 9 feet up in a chinaberry tree in a 

 yard at Rosedale, Miss., and another that was 23 feet up in a pecan 

 tree and 3 feet out in a dead snag. 



Eggs. — The southern hairy woodpecker is said to lay three to six 

 eggs. The latter number must be unusual, as the set generally consists 

 of three or four eggs. The eggs are scarcely distinguishable from 

 those of other hairy woodpeckers, though they average somewhat 

 smaller than those of the more northern races. Tlie measurements 

 of 42 eggs average 21.29 by 18.29 millimeters ; the eggs showing the 

 four extremes measure 26.1 by 19.2, 25.8 by 19.8, 21 by 19, and 23.8 

 by 16.6 millimeters. 



Food. — Major Bendire (1895) says that this subspecies seems to be 

 fonder of fruit and berries than are the northern races and that "the 

 young are fed largely on figs." Audubon (1842) says that in the salt 

 marshes about the mouths of the Mississippi "it alights against the 

 stalks of the largest and tallest reeds, and perforates them as it is 

 wont to bore into trees. * ' * * I have often observed it clinging 

 to the stalks of the sugar-cane, boring them, and apparently greatly 

 enjoj^ing the sweet juices of that plant; and when I have seen it, in 

 severe winter weather, attempting to bore the dried stalks of maize, I 

 have thought it expected to find in them something equally pleasing 

 to its taste." 



Milton P. Skinner (1928) says of these birds, in the sandhills of 

 North Carolina: "In winter the hairy woodpeckers vary their diet 

 of insects with various berries and dried wild fruits. They are par- 

 ticularly fond of the small black berries of the sour gum {Nyssa 

 silvatica). Soon after the early frosts the birds flock to these swamp 

 trees and feast as long as the berries last." 



The main food supply of this and other woodpeckers consists of 

 insects and their larvae, which are obtained by searching in the 

 crevices in the bark of whatever trees are available, or drilling into 

 the trunks and branches to find the grubs. Mr. Skinner (1928) saw 

 one working on "a charred and dead stub of a shrub oak. Here it 

 worked steadily for fifteen minutes pulling out small white grubs and 



