ARIZONA WOODPECKER 93 



record the finding of two nests of this woodpecker in the same 

 region on May 24, 1899; these were both in dea'd branches of oak 

 trees; one was 15 and one 18 feet from the ground, and the nesting 

 cavities were both 12 inches deep; "one bird was seen to leave the 

 nest and the other one entered it; after it got in, it stuck its head 

 out and uttered one sharp note, like a grosbeak's, which was 

 answered by its mate." 



Major Bendire (1895) mentions a nest, found by Dr. A. K. Fisher 

 in Garden Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains, on May 14, that 

 was "in a large maple which overhung a stream. The cavity was 

 situated in a dry branch, about 20 feet from the ground, and was 

 about a foot in depth. It contained four young, which were still 

 naked." There are two sets of four eggs each in the Thayer collec- 

 tion; one was taken by O. W. Howard in the Huachuca Mountains 

 on April 24, 1902, from a nest in a mescal stalk, 8 feet from the 

 ground; the other was collected by Virgil W. Owen in the Chirica- 

 hua Mountains, on April 22, 1906; the entrance to the cavity was 9 

 feet up on the under side of a slightly leaning, dead and decaying 

 stub of an oak limb in a dead tree. 



Eggs. — The Arizona woodpecker apparently lays either three or 

 four eggs; we have no record of more or fewer. The few that I 

 have seen are practically ovate; they are pure white and some are 

 quite glossy, others less so. The measurements of 27 eggs average 

 22.82 by 17.33 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 24.0 by 18.0, 19.9 by 16.7, and 22.5 by 16.5 millimeters. 



Young. — The period of incubation does not seem to have been de- 

 finitely determined, but it is probably about 14 days, as with other 

 Dryohates. Both sexes assist in tliis task, and probably in the care 

 of the young. 



H. S. Swarth (1904) writes: 



About the third week in April they commence laying their eggs, and after 

 the middle of June the young birds begin to leave the nest, and soon become 

 quite abundant. I have never had any difficulty in approaching these birds as 

 they are usually quite tame and unsuspicious ; far more so than the generality of 

 woodpeckers, and the young birds are noticeably so. I have several times stood 

 within ten feet of a young bird, easily distinguishable by his red cap, as he 

 was industriously pounding on a limb without seeming in the least disturbed 

 by my presence, or showing any inclination to leave. On one occasion the 

 confiding, and in this case inquiring nature of the bird occasioned rather a 

 laughable scene. An acquaintance in the mountains, passing the camp one day 

 stopped to lead his horse down to the well which supplied us with water. A 

 young Arizona Woodpecker was sitting in an oak tree close by, and soon after 

 the horse began drinking he flew down, and lighting on the animal's hind leg 

 as on the side of a tree, hit it a vigorous rap or two. The horse and its owner 

 appeared equally surprised, and both moving a little the bird retreated to his 

 tree. It wasn't a minute before he was back again, this time on a front leg, 

 where he went to work with such energy as to start the horse plunging and 



