Notes from Field and Study 



265 



bird was large enough to make such deep 

 indentations in the snow, and what pur- 

 pose could he have had in view which 

 made such a variety of marks with feet, 

 body, feathers and wings ? After consider- 

 able study, I think I solved the problem. 

 A Great Horned Owl settled on the 

 wall just over the crest of the drift at the 

 right, making a row of small depressions 

 in the snow with the feathers of the right 

 wing. Turning abruptly, he made several 



behind him. So I feel sure that the Owl 

 King, Bubo virginianis, had been about. — 

 George H. Selleck, Exeter, N. H. 



Nesting of the Red-Cockaded 

 Woodpecker 



In the South Atlantic states the nest of 

 the Red-cockaded Woodpecker is, so far 

 as I have observed, always excavated in 

 the trunk of a living pine tree. The site 



A HORNED OWL RECORD 

 Photographed by George H. Selleck 



short plunges down the sides of the drift, 

 making two deep irregular furrows with 

 his feet. He had heard the squeak of a 

 mouse which he may have caught at the 

 last plunge. Then, as he swung around 

 and sprang up, his feathers swept the 

 snow and his body sank deep into it. His 

 first strong wing-beats made the spread- 

 eagle marks at the left after he was in the 

 air. 



I searched carefully among the trees 

 and bushes near, but could find neither 

 pellets nor feathers to substantiate my 

 theory. A Crow or a Blue Jay had brought 

 a small ear of corn to an overhanging apple 

 tree, and had dropped the cob; but neither 

 bird was large enough to leave such marks 



chosen varies from twentv-five to fifty feet 

 from the earth. The general appearance 

 of the nest, externally as well as internally, 

 does not present characteristics materially 

 different from the usual Woodpecker exca- 

 vations except in one striking particular. 

 The bird pecks numerous small holes 

 through the bark in the neighborhood of 

 the entrance to the nest. These are dis- 

 tributed entirely around the tree, and 

 sometimes extend up the trunk for a dis- 

 tance of two feet or more, and often down- 

 ward for a distance of six feet. From 

 these wounds the turpentine of the tree 

 exudes and runs down the bark, often 

 completely covering the surface, and pre- 

 senting a mark which can be seen through 



