34 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



pose, and on June 23, 1905, I listened for many minutes to a remark- 

 able demonstration of this kind. Different branches were tattoed 

 in rapid succession, so that a xylophone-like variety of tones was 

 produced, very impressive and far-carrying through the otherwise 

 quiet forest." 

 Nesting. — Major Bendire (1895) writes: 



In California Cabanis' Woodpecker is common in tlie mountains, but in tlie 

 lowlands in the southern part of this State Mr. F. Stephens considers it a rather 

 rare summer resident. He found it breeding in a cotton wood tree, near San 

 Bernardino, on March 21, 1885. Mr. Lyman Belding took several nests of this 

 subspecies in Calaveras County, in the Sierra Nevadas ; in one, found on June 

 6, 1879, which had been excavated in a dead pine stump, 12 feet from the 

 ground, the eggs, three in number, were on the point of hatching. In his notes 

 he says : "I scared the female from it and prevented her return by inserting a 

 stick, the end of which protruded for several feet. When she found she could 

 not enter she gave several cries, which brought the male, who hopped up and 

 down the stick a few times, striking it with his bill and screaming angrily, paus- 

 ing occasionally, and apparently deliberating on the besi' method of extracting 

 it." Another rest, found by him on July 10, 1880, was located only 3 feet from 

 the ground, and contained young which were still in the nest on the 20th. Mr. 

 Charles A. Allen informs me that along the Sacramento River, in California, it 

 breeds in sycamores and willows, but that it is not common there. 



Eggs. — Major Bendire (1895) says: 



The number of eggs laid to a set varies from three to six ; those of four are by 

 far the most common ; sets of five are only occasionally met with, while sets of 

 six are very unusual. * * * The eggs lie on the fine chips left in the bottom 

 of the cavity, and are occasionally well packed into these, so that only about 

 one-half of the egg is visible. They resemble the eggs of Drijobates villosus in 

 color, but those of an elliptical ovate shape are more common than the oval and 

 elliptical ovals, averaging, therefore, more in length, while there is proportion- 

 ally less difference in their short diameter. 



The measurements of 23 eggs average 24.49 by 18.38 millimeters; 

 tlie eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.7 by 18.2, 24.2 by 19.7, 

 22.8 by 18.1, and 24.9 by 16.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1904) says: "Both sexes share 

 the labors of excavating, brooding the eggs, and feeding the young. 

 Incubation lasts about fifteen days, and the young remain nearly 

 four weeks in the nest, being fed most of that time by regurgitation. 

 After leaving they are fed by the parents for at least two weeks, and 

 usually return to the nest at night to sleep." 



Food.—W. Leon Dawson (1923) writes: "Nearly half of the Ca- 

 banis Woodpecker's food consists of the larvae of wood-boring 

 beetles (the Cerambycidae and Buprestidae) ; and of the remainder 

 the caterpillars of various injurious moths form a large per cent. 

 Wild raspberries and blackberries are eaten in summer, and cer- 

 tain hardy fruits, such as cornel berries, acorns, and the pits of the 



