HARRIS'S WOODPECKER 31 



labeled harrisi, prove to be referable to one of the neighboring sub- 

 species. 



D. E. Brown writes to me: 



Its nesting cavities may be at any height from 4 feet to well over 100 feet from 

 the ground. I found a nest 8 feet vip in an 8-inch dead fir stub in a dry open 

 locality. The female flushed from the nest, and the date was just right for 

 fresh eggs, May 6. The cavity was carefully opened. It was 16 inches deep and 

 contained a single egg. This egg was so fresh and the shell so clear that the 

 yolk could be plainly seen. The cavity was carefully repaired with bark from 

 the stub, held in place with black thread. Both birds were near all this time, 

 complaining loudly. I returned in five days. The bark was still in place, but 

 the egg was gone. The dust from the decaying stub, where the egg had been, 

 was very dry, and I am of the opinion that the parent bird had removed the egg. 



G. D. Sprot has sent me a beautiful photograph (pi. 4) of a nesting 

 site of this woodpecker in a dead alder stump in a coniferous forest 

 clearing, near Mill Bay, Vancouver Island, taken May 23, 1928. 



Dawson and Bowles (1909) say: 



The nest of this bird is usually placed well up in a small dead fir tree in some 

 burn or slashing on dry groiiud. It is about ten inches deep and has no lining 

 save fine chips, among which the crystal white eggs, four or five in number, lie 

 partially imbedded. Incubation is begun from the last week in April to the last 

 week in May, according to altitude, and but one brood is raised in a season. 

 These Woodpeckers are exceptionally valiant in defense of their young, the 

 male in particular becoming almost beside himself with rage at the appearance 

 of an enemy near the home nest. 



S. F. Kathbun sends me the following note on a Harris's woodpecker 

 that made an attempt to dig a nesting hole in a small young fir topped 

 about 10 feet up : "The tree had been cut off so that it could be used 

 as one of the supports of a cross piece to which a swing was attached. 

 The woodpecker began to dig a hole in the topped upright, and the 

 owner of the place called me up and wanted to know what the bird 

 was and what it was up to. I told him all about it and suggested that 

 he keep away from the stub. Two weeks later, I asked him how the 

 bird was getting on. He said at first the bird was busy digging away 

 every day, but of late seemed to have something the matter with it, for 

 'lately every day it just sat with its head sticking out of the hole and 

 did no work on it.' I cut a piece from the edge of the entrance and 

 quickly found out. Wlien the crossbar for the swing had been nailed 

 to the sapling, a 10-inch spike was used to hold it ; and this had gone 

 nearly through the sapling. The woodpecker ran into this spike, as it 

 was digging the hole, after progressing 6 inches or so downward. It 

 did not seem able to go around the spike, although it had enlarged the 

 cavity an inch on each side of the heavy nail and had cut away the 

 wood for 2 inches or more below the spike. But the job proved to be 

 too much for the bird, and it eventually gave up and disappeared. I 

 told my friend to pull the spike and maybe next year the bird would 



