108 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



were somewhat longer than those spent there by the female. While 

 the male was at the cavity, he spent much of his time in excavating, 

 with only his tail and the region of his rump projecting from the 

 opening, but at intervals of a few seconds he would Avithdraw his 

 body and head from the cavity and look about him. When he was 

 excavating, very little noise could be heard. He spent some time in 

 throwing out chips and some time in resting. When the female was 

 at the cavity, she did very little excavating, so little that it seemed 

 to be a mere gesture. On one occasion, after she had been clinging 

 to the edge of the opening for 10 minutes, she drummed repeatedly, 

 but not loudly, on the outside of the stub beside the opening. I 

 wondered if she were signaling to the male to come to relieve her in 

 guarding the cavity. After 5 minutes of such intermittent drumming, 

 she was relieved at the opening by the male." 



Mr. Achilles (1906) describes the nest he found in the Adirondacks 

 as follows: 



The hole, which was in a spruce tree, faced north by northeast, and was 

 twenty-seven feet one inch from the ground. The spruce retained all its branches 

 and some twigs, although it had been dead for some time. 



The following dimensions of the hole were taken after the young had left 

 their nest. The entrance to the hole was two inches wide and one and five- 

 eighths inches high. From the outside of the hole, straight through over the 

 top of the nest to the back of the hole, the measurement was five and three-fourths 

 inches. The outside shell, including the bark, was one and three-fourths inches 

 thick. The diameter of the nest opening was three and one-fourth inches, while 

 the diameter of the hole on the inside at the bottom of the shaft, was four and 

 five-eighths inches. The depth of the hole was nine and one-eighth inches. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam sent Major Bend ire (1895) some notes on two 

 nests that he f oiuid in the Adirondacks, as follows : 



The water of Seventh Lake, Fulton Chain, had been raised by a dam at the foot 

 of Sixth Lake, flooding a considerable area along the inlet, and the trees killed 

 by the overflow stood in about 6 feet of water. In 1883 the place was first 

 visited by me, May 27. Both species of Three-toed Woodpeckers {Pico ides ameri- 

 canus and arcticus) were tolerably common, and one new nest of each was found. 

 That of P. arcticus contained one fresh egg. The nest was 10 inches deep, and 

 the opening within 5 feet of the surface of the water. It was in a dead spruce, 

 10 inches in diameter. * * * The place was next visited June 2, but the date 

 proved still too early. Several imfinished nests of P. americamis were found, 

 and one completed nest with four fresh eggs of P. arcticus. Like the one found 

 on my first visit, it was in a dead spruce and about 5 feet above the water. The 

 nest was 11 inches deep and the orifice 1% inches in diameter. 



J. H. Fleming (1901) says that the Arctic three-toed woodpecker is 

 "a comjnon resident in Parry Sound, rarer in Muskoka. This Wood- 

 pecker has a habit of sometimes nesting in colonies. I saw the nests 

 of such a colony near Sand Lake in 1896; there were six or seven nests, 

 each cut into the trunk of a living cedar, just below the first branch, 

 and usually eight or ten feet from the ground. The cedars were in a 

 dense forest, overlooking a small stream that empties into Sand Lake." 



