The Pileated Woodpecker 



By ERNEST WATERS VICKERS 



With photographs by the author 



SO far as his continental occupancy 

 is concerned, this great black 

 Woodpecker is doomed. Civiliza- 

 tion is banishing him to a few inaccessible 

 ha])])}- hunting-grounds; the shrieking 

 moan of a thousand portable saw-mills 

 are already hymning his requiem. He 

 cannot live on tl:e selvage, like the Crow, 

 or lind new prospects and privileges 

 under civilization's newly imposed con- 

 ditions, as have the Robin and Flicker; 

 but must share a fate common with the 

 primeval forest, since his life is part and 

 parcel with the untamable spirit that 

 haunts the wilderness. And in a land 

 where liberty spells the right to carry a 

 gun and destroy every creeping and flying 

 thing, his end is only the more certain. 



According to reports from all sec- 

 tions east of the Mississippi and south of 

 the Great Lakes, this 'great northern 

 chief of his tribe,' as Alexander Wilson 

 styles him, is disappearing or has already 

 gone; so that bird-lovers tramp miles to 

 secure a glimpse of his vanishing forms, 

 and publish him in their notes with enthusiastic gladness. 



The writer has been familiar with this bird in northeastern Ohio for more 

 than a dozen years, and here he has held his own, despite the growth in popula- 

 tion and rapid deforestation that have taken place in that length of time. 



To study the Log-cock in his haunts is a memorable experience, which words 

 fail to describe. It kindles enthusiasm to the superlative degree. 



Search the bird-books if you would gain an idea of his outward appearance, 

 but it is of his very spirit that we would give a glimpse. An animus of wild, 

 dashing joy, full of nervous, tireless, almost impatient industry; utter aloofness 

 from all man-made things; loud, ringing, derisive laughter; vigorous, straight- 

 away flight, bearing that chis^l-beak firmly set on his short-necked powerful head, 

 — thus with his brief, flowing crest he suggests the Kingfisher, as he dashes across 

 alternate patches of light and shade with cackling laughter. Everv movement 

 suggests a personality of unusual vim and poise and indei)endent jiower. He 



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SUG.\R MAPLE. SHOWIxXG 

 EXC.>\VATIOXS MADE BY THE 

 ATED WOODPECKER. Ellsworth 



THE 

 PILE- 

 Ohio. 



