120 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



attempt to mislead us by pecking at the bark, evidently realizing that this ruse 

 had failed. When he flew back into the woods he always took one of two 

 courses and along each he invariably alighted not only on the same trees 

 but on the same spot on each tree. He had one particular place on the trunk of a 

 large spruce where he would spend ten or fifteen minutes at a time pluming 

 himself and watching us, before returning to the nest. 



Major Bendire (1895) quotes the following from Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam : 



We had just crossed the boundary line between Lewis and Herkimer counties, 

 when Mr. Bagg called my attention to a "fresh hole," about 8 feet from the 

 ground, in a spruce tree near by. On approaching the tree a yellow crown 

 appeared in the hole, showing that the male bird was "at home." To prevent his 

 escape I jumped toward the tree and introduced three fingers, which were im- 

 mediately punctured in a manner so distasteful to their proprietor as to neces- 

 sitate an immediate withdrawal and exchange for the muzzle of my friend's 

 gun. A handkerchief was next crowded into the hole, but was instantly riddled 

 and driven out by a few blows from his terrible bill. It was then held loosely 

 over the hole, and as the bird emerged I secured and killed him. 



Wendell Taber had a good chance to observe one of these wood- 

 peckers at short range in Grafton County, N. H., on May 31, 1937, 

 about which he writes to me: "The bird was intent upon obtaining 

 its food and ignored our presence. Most of the time the bird would 

 fly to a tree and alight at a height of 20 to 25 feet, then work down- 

 ward, hopping backward. Particularly it seemed to enjoy prodding 

 around on the base of a tree at or within an inch or two of where tree 

 and earth met. Drilling was barely audible, even when the bird was 

 close-to. Both live and dead trees were attacked impartially. There 

 was no strip act — the bark was not peeled off. There was a row of 

 dead trees at the edge of the forest, which might well have been con- 

 centrated on, but which, actually, was attacked only in a haphazard 

 manner along with trees alive in the forest. If anything, more atten- 

 tion was given to live trees." 



Voice. — ^The three-toed woodpecker is normally a rather silent bird. 

 Its w^eak notes have been likened to the squealing notes of the yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker, or the squeak of a small mammal; it also utters a 

 variety of short notes like queep or quip. Horace W. Wright (1911) 

 says : "The calls of the americanus male bird were not excited or loud. 

 The single calls were somewhat like the robin's call at dusk, and the 

 rattling calls resembled a Hairy Woodpecker's rattle, but were less 

 loud and sharp." 



Mr. Brewster (1898) writes: 



I had abundant opportunities for studying the drumming call today. It varied 

 in duration from one to two seconds (never running over or under these limits) 

 but was usually one and a half to one and three quarters seconds. The inter- 

 vals between the calls were too irregular to be worth recording. The first three 

 or four taps were slightly slower and more disconnected than the remaining 

 ones but the general effect was that of a uniform roll similar to that made by 



