FLORIDA PILEATED WOODPECKER 189 



on the large black wood ants, which impart to it a very peculiar, and to me 

 an extremely nnpleasant flavor, a kind of sweet-sour taste, which any amount 

 of seasoning and cooking does not disguise, and I consider it as a very 

 unpalatable substitute for game of any kind. 



Winter. — As is true of other members of the family, the pileated 

 woodpecker may in fall be found digging for himself a cavity for 

 winter occupancy. Few birds other than the woodpeckers make 

 what may be called habitations, except as part of or incident to the 

 activities of reproduction. And in the case of the woodpeckers, while 

 I know that in particular instances these winter retreats are not so 

 used, I am unable to say that they never are subsequently used as 

 nesting cavities. 



Hoyes Lloyd (1932) wrote: 



One of the most delightful bird adventures we have had at Rockcliffe Park 

 [near the City of Ottawa] was the visit to us of a pileated woodpecker. It 

 first came at 4 : 30 p. m., on October 12, 1928, and excavated a hole in a hollow 

 basswood for sleeping quarters * * *. The chips, from live wood, were up 

 to three inches by two inches in area, and an eighth of an inch thick. Each chip 

 had two or three gouge-like beak marks across its surface. At 4 : 50 p. m. on 

 the nest day the pileated came home, and although we were all outdoors, it went 

 directly to its own tree and after a brief survey of affairs in the vicinity, 

 retired. The approach was silent except, possibly for a single Flicker-like note 

 in the distance. About 9 a. m., on the 14th, our bird woke me up with a loud 

 kuk-kuk-kuk call and it looked very large as it climbed up the home basswood. 

 Promptly at quarter to five it came home, undoubtedly after a day among the 

 big hardwoods of the neighborhood. We were all impressed by its great length 

 of neck, as it swung its head with a curious bobbing motion, that was used, 

 without doubt, to give a view on each side of the home tree, before going 

 into the hole for the night. A pileated, thought to be the same bird, came back 

 on March 22, 1929, possibly, or certainly on the 23rd, and slept in its winter 

 home. 



Prof. Brooks writes (MS.) : "At French Creek [Upshur County, 

 W. Va.], two birds used a nesting cavity as a roosting place during 

 the following winter." 



CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS FLORIDANUS (Ridgway) 



FLORIDA PILEATED WOODPECKER 



HABITS 



This is the race that is supposed to inhabit central and southern 

 Florida, as far north as Orange County, but there seems to be some 

 doubt as to the desirability of naming it. Ridgway (1914) describes 

 it as "similar to P. p. pileafus, but decidedly blacker (that is, the 

 general black color less slaty or sooty), and average size less, with 

 bill usually relatively shorter and broader." But he admits his 

 doubt, in a footnote, saying: 



I have found it very diflicult to decide as to the propriety of separating a form 

 of this species from central and southern Florida, but after having several 



