NORTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER 57 



out of the doorway ; they rubbed their bills together and chirped a 

 few remarks. The female then flew away and the male took up the 

 task again." 



Audubon (1842) says: "About the middle of April it begins to 

 form its nest, shewing little care as to the kind of tree it selects for the 

 purpose, although it generally chooses a sound one, sometimes, how- 

 ever, taking one that is partially decayed. The pair work together 

 for several days before the hole is completed, sometimes perhaps a 

 whole week, as they dig it to a depth of a foot or sixteen inches. The 

 direction is sometimes perpendicularly downwards from the com- 

 mencement, sometimes transverse to the tree for four or five inches, 

 and then longitudinal. The hole is rendered smooth and conveniently 

 large throughout, the entrance being perfectly round, and just large 

 enough to admit one bird at a time." 



A. Dawes DuBois (MS.) writes that the male bird of a pair was 

 caught in a nest 6 feet from the ground, evidently incubating the 

 six eggs well advanced in development. This observation is in ac- 

 cord with the general belief that the male takes his share in incuba- 

 tion. 



Mrs. Alice Hall Walter (1912) states that "in the North, only one 

 brood is raised during a season ; but it is not uncommon in the South 

 for one brood to be raised in May and a second in August." 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The northern downy woodpecker lays 

 ordinarily four or five eggs, though sets of three or six are not rare, 

 and as many as seven or even eight eggs have been found in a nest. 

 The eggs are pure white, either dull white or more or less glossy, and 

 they vary in shape from ovate to rounded-ovate. The measurements 

 of 55 eggs average 19.35 by 15.05 millimeters; the eggs showing the 

 four extremes measure 22.*35 by 16.26, 17.78 by 14.73, and 18.80 by 

 13.97 millimeters.] 



Young. — The incubation period of the downy woodpecker is 12 

 days, according to Frank L. Burns (1915) and Dr. Arthur A. Allen 

 (1928). 



Wliether in their earliest days the young birds, hidden in the 

 depths of their dark chamber, are fed by regurgitation has not been 

 determined, but very soon after they leave the ^g^ food is brought 

 directly to them. Dr. Allen (MS.) says: "Certainly by the time 

 the young are four or five days old entire insects are brought in the 

 parents' bills and given to the young ; I have photographic proof of 

 this." 



Craig S. Thoms (1927), in a study of the nesting habits in South 

 Dakota, says : "On June 9 the young were beginning to come up to 

 the door of their excavation to receive food. Presumably the largest 

 and strongest sticks his head clear out. When he fed he subsided 



90801 — 39 5 



