WESTERN PILEATED WOODPECKEE 191 



Major Bendire (1895) writes: 



In southern Florida the mating season commences early in March, and farther 

 north correspondingly later. A suitable tree having been selected, generally a 

 dead one in large and extensive woods, both birds work alternately on the nest- 

 ing site. This is usually excavated in the main trunk, from 12 to 75 feet from 

 the gi-ound, and it takes from seven to twelve days to complete it The entrance 

 measures from 3 to 3% inches in diameter, and it often goes 5 inches straight 

 into the trunk before it is worked downward. The cavity varies from 7 to 30 

 inches in depth, and is gradually enlarged toward the bottom, where it is about 

 6 inches wide. A layer of chips is left at the bottom, on which the eggs are 

 deposited. Occasionally the entrance hole, instead of being circular, is oval in 

 shape, like that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The inside of the cavity is 

 quite smooth, the edges of the entrance are nicely beveled, and, taken as a whole, 

 it is quite an artistic piece of work. 



Dr. William L. Kalph told Bendire of a clever trick practiced by 

 this woodpecker ; he found a nest "in the second week in April, about 

 the time nidification is at its height there. On rapping on the trunk 

 of the tree the bird, which was at home, stuck his head out of the hole 

 and dropped some chips, naturally causing the Doctor to believe that 

 the nesting site was still unfinished. The same performance was re- 

 peated on several subsequent visits, and finally he concluded to exam- 

 ine the nest anyhow, when he found nearly full-grown young. This 

 pair of birds must have had eggs at the time he first discovered the 

 nest, and the chips were simply thrown out as a ruse to deceive him." 



Eggs. — This woodpecker lays, ordinarily, three or four eggs, rarely 

 five. These are indistinguishable from those of the species from other 

 southern States. The measurements of 22 eggs average 33.61 by 24.75 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 36.2 by 

 24.5, 35.70 by 26.19, 31.5 by 24.0, and 34.2 by 22.8 millimeters. 



Food. — Mr. Howell (1932) states that "this large woodpecker is a 

 decidedly useful species. It never injures farm crops, but feeds en- 

 tirely in the forests, rendering good service there in the destruction 

 of wood-boring beetles. It eats, also, ants and wild fruits and berries, 

 including the fruit of the sour gum, tupelo gum, dogwood, persimmon, 

 frost grape, holly, poison ivy, sumac, and hackberry." C. J. Maynard 

 (1896) says that they "are partial to the berries of the palmetto, feed- 

 ing, in Florida, upon little else when these are in season." 



CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS PICINUS (Bangs) 



WESTERN PILEATED WOODPECKER 

 HABITS 



In describing and naming tliis large, dark-colored race from the 

 Northwest coast region, Outram Bangs (1910) says that it is "as large 

 as, or even larger than, P. pileatus ahieticola (Bangs), but color sooty 



