112 BULLETIN 17 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Griimell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1930) write of the feeding habits 

 of this woodpecker in the Lassen Peak region : 



One of these woodpeckers was watched as it moved slowly up a tree trunk. 

 It stopped to knock off a piece of bark with a sidewise (glancing) blow of the 

 heavy bill. This was repeated several times. Then the bird began to drill in 

 earnest and the tapping could be heard by a person more than thirty meters 

 distant. The blows were deUvered rapidly, about two per second. Between 

 three and five minutes were required to bore through the bark, in this instance 

 twenty millimeters thick. Then after a few moments of probing the bill was 

 withdrawn and was seen to hold a white larva which was quickly eaten. * * * 



On one tree thirty-five centimeters in diameter an area of bark thirty by sixty 

 centimeters was pvuictured completely through by twenty-two holes each lead- 

 ing to the tunnel of a wood-borer. * * * The holes were twelve by twelve 

 millimeters across by twenty deep. It appeared to the observer * * * that 

 many of the still living trees in that locality had been saved from complete 

 destruction by the insects, by the activity of this woodpecker. 



Manly Hardy wrote to Major Bendire (1895) that, in Maine, "it 

 seems to feed entirely on such wood worms as attack spruce, pine, and 

 other soft-wood timber that has been fire-killed. Specimens are so 

 abundant in such places that I once shot the heads off of six in a few 

 minutes when short of material for a stew." 



Some dead pine trees that had been regularly frequented by these 

 woodpeckers, on the Kennard estate, were cut down; and the birds, 

 seeing their favorite trees gone, continued to search for food on the 

 wood piles made from these trees. 



Behavior. — Most observers agree that the Arctic three-toed wood- 

 pecker is very tame and unsuspicious, working very quietly on a tree 

 trunk for long periods, without moving about much, and allowing a 

 close approach ; perhaps, as it lives most of its life in remote northern 

 forests, where men are scarce, it has not learned to fear human beings. 

 Manly Hardy considered it the tamest and stupidest of the wood- 

 peckers found in Maine. Major Bendire (1895) says: 



"Like the hairy woodpecker, they are persistent drummers, rattling 

 away for minutes at a time on some dead limb, and are especially 

 active during the mating season, in April. I have located more than 

 one specimen by traveling in the direction of the sound when it was 

 fully half a mile away. * * * Its flight is swift, greatly undu- 

 lating, and is often protracted for considerable distances." 



Dr. Lewis says in his notes: "When one bird relieved the other in 

 guarding the cavity, the bird taking over guard duty flew low toward 

 the stub and swerved sharply upward, with widespread tail, to alight 

 near the opening." 



Voice. — Dr. Lewis (MS.) records the common cry of this wood- 

 pecker as ''''tchuh^ often shortened and sharpened to hip.'''' He also 

 says: "A male mounted a stub, about 25 feet from me, and there, in 

 plain view, scolded me vigorously with a sharp note like kuk^ re- 



