GIT.A WOODPECKER 253 



not very glossy when fresh, but sometimes quite glossy when heavily 

 incubated; they vary from ovate to elliptical-ovate and are some- 

 times quite pointed. The measurements of 62 eggs average 25.14 

 by 18.56 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 27.43 by 18.80, 26.6 by 20.1, 22.86 by 17.27, and 23.9 by 16.6 millimeters. 

 Young. — Incubation is said to last about two weeks, and is prob- 

 ably shared by both parents. Mr. Gilman (1915) writes: 



It is not easy to dotermine just what food the young in the nest are given, 

 but insects play a prominent part, as I have seen them frequently carried to 

 the young. Fruit is also used, as I watched one parent carry ripe Lycium 

 berries several times to the nest; after emerging from the hole she would 

 halt at the entrance each time and "lick her chops." * * * 



The young are fed by the parents for a long time after leaving the nest, and 

 they are regular little beggars. One pair stayed around our house for several 

 months, and became quite tame. They were missed during the breeding season 

 but soon came back with three youngsters to share the good things found on 

 the bird tables in the yard. The young, though as large as their parents, 

 would flutter their wings and sit with open beak as though the old ones told 

 them to "open your mouth and shut your eyes," etc. The old ones would try 

 to get them to eat watermelon placed on the tables, but the babies would not 

 be shown ; the parents had to put it in their mouths. They followed the parents 

 from perch to perch, begging for food until I expected to see them chastised. 

 The pair in question stayed with the three juvenals until they had them 

 broken to eat for themselves, and then left. After a proper interval they 

 came back with two more yoimg ones, thus indicating that a second brood is 

 sometimes raised. The abundant supply of food may have been a determining 

 factor in the number of broods raised. 



Plumages. — The nestlings are naked and blind at first but become 

 fully clothed in the juvenal plumage before leaving the nest. The 

 young male, in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult male, but 

 the colors are generally paler, the head and under parts grayer, the 

 barring on the upper parts less distinct, and the white bars are suf- 

 fused with brownish buff ; the red patch on the crown is smaller and 

 often consists of only a few red feathers; and the bill is somewhat 

 smaller and weaker. The young female is like the young male but 

 has no red on the head. I have been unable to trace the postjuvenal 

 molt, but young birds in the following spring are apparently like the 

 adults. Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in August, Septem- 

 ber, and October. 



Food. — Major Bendire (1895) says: "Its food consists of insects 

 of various kinds, such as ants, beetles, grasshoppers, and larvse, and 

 in season largely on the sweet, fig-like fruit of the sahuaras, the 

 giant cactus, and also, to a considerable extent, on the viscous berries 

 of a species of mistletoe which is commonly found on most of the 

 larger cottonwoods, oaks, and mesquite trees in these regions. These 

 sticky, whitish-looking berries are a favorite food of many Arizona 

 birds." 



