148 



THE OOLOGIST 



beds and almost impenetrable jungle. 

 Where the fires have not swept over 

 a second-groAVth forest of mostly hard- 

 wood is replacing the original coni- 

 ferous growth. 



With the destruction of the big 

 woods the first bird to leave is the 

 Raven followed by the Pileated. 



In this general region are still many 

 small and a few large bodies of vir- 

 gin forest still standing. One large 

 tract near Warren is over five miles 

 through one way and contains over 

 10,000 acres. 



In the larger bodies of timber, the 

 pileated is not hard to find. Their 

 presence is to be seen in the shape 

 of huge old hemlock stubs stripped of 

 their bark from top to bottom. Large 

 holes are cut into logs and fallen tim- 

 ber in quest of ants and grubs. I 

 have seen where they have dug holes 

 from one to two feet long and three 

 inches wide into the very heart of 

 large and ant infested timber, and when 

 such trees happen to be oak or chest- 

 nut, the work must take some time. 



They are great wanderers and roam 

 over considerable territory. I often 

 see them flying from one mountain to 

 another and at considerable elevation. 

 Their call is very much like a 

 Flicker's, only louder and more cackl- 

 ing. This cackling is uttered when in 

 flight, as well as when at rest. When 

 at rest though the call is usually given 

 without interruptions between notes 

 while during flight only two or three 

 notes are given at a time. 



The Pileated is a wary bird and not 

 easily approached and when followed 

 up will usually take a long flight and 

 leave the pursuer behind. It was not 

 so difficult to get specimens of the 

 bird itself but I soon discovered that 

 to get eggs was a different propo- 

 sition. 



I could find no accounts of this wood- 



pecker breeding in this state so was 

 at a loss to know at what date to 

 expect eggs. I could find no woods- 

 man who had ever seen a nest nor 

 did I know in what sort of timber to 

 search. 



As season after season passed I 

 realized that the Pileated was grad- 

 ually growing scarcer and the chances 

 of finding a nest becoming less. 



During the seasons of 1908—1909 1 

 made a hard search for the now much- 

 coveted prize. I found it impossible 

 to confine them to any one place 

 owing to their wanderings and of 

 course I could not thoroughly search 

 over an extensive territory owing to 

 the great amount of hemlock which 

 shuts off the view. 



A person can spy on the movements 

 of many birds and by watching and 

 following around can often either find 

 the nest or get a very good idea of 

 where to look. Spying on the move- 

 ments of the Pileateds I found 

 wouldn't work because they were too 

 shy. 



About five miles from town along 

 the river is a large tract of wild land 

 that has always been a favorite hunt- 

 ing and collecting ground with me.. 

 There is a large body of heavy timber 

 there and in this woods Pileateds are 

 always found . Horned and Barred 

 Owls nest there and yearly several 

 pairs of Red-shouldered Hawks nest 

 near the river. 



Last spring early while looking up 

 the hawks and owls I saw an unusual 

 amount of signs of the Pileateds near 

 a thick swamp of hemlock and laurel. 

 I remembered that I almost always 

 saw or heard them near this swamp 

 whenever I went that way, so while 

 gathering in the raptores, I kept a 

 sharp lookout for a promising looking 

 hole for pileatus. Not until the first 

 of May did I see anything in that line. 



