THE OOLOGIST 



149 



Then I tcinid thiee large good looking 

 holes in as many stubs and I'rom the 

 quantity of chips on the ground I 

 knew these excavations were ileep. I 

 didn't have much hope as I was 

 afraid it was too late in the season, 

 but May 16th a friend and myself 

 spent part of the day in that region. 

 Just before reaching the Pileateds 

 home I looked at a large hawk's nest 

 in a tree near a pond in the deep 

 woods and flushed a Cooper's Hawk, 

 A climb rewarded me by a nice fresh 

 set of five. 



At the first stub a jar from a heavy 

 rock started a black squirrel who made 

 a flying leap and disappeared into a 

 hemlock. At the second and best- 

 looking stub we found a family of fly- 

 ing squirrels at home. This was dis- 

 couraging but we went to the third 

 and largest stub. 



A couple of thumps and out came a 

 scarlet-crested head. It took con- 

 siderable pounding to make her leave. 

 As we stocd there sizing up the tree 

 she came back ami aljghted directly 

 luider the opening, -but changed her 

 notion about entering and flew off into 

 the swamp. ;During the time we were 

 there she stayed nearby and fre- 

 quently cackled but we saw nothing 

 of the male. The tree was an oak 

 three feet through and broken off 

 forty-five feet from the ground. Only 

 one side of the tree was alive and 

 twenty-five feet from the ground this 

 living wood branched off into a large 

 limb a foot through. The rest of the 

 stub was bare and dead and very 

 punky and soft. This big limb left 

 the stub at right angles, then turned 

 and grew straight up and about four 

 feet from the stub itself. The green 

 wood bulged out from the stub and by 

 hanging to this bulge I managed to 

 drag myself up to the limb. I then 

 climbed up even with the hole which 



was on the opposite side. 



With a heavy knife I soon cut 

 through into the excavation and re- 

 moved the four crystal-white beauties 

 at the bottom. The opening to the 

 nest was four inches in diameter and 

 not perfectly round. The excavation 

 was twenty inches deep and ten in 

 diameter making quite a large roomy 

 nest. The eggs were deposited on a 

 few fine chips. They measure 1.50 x 

 1.06, 1.05 X 1.00, 1.50 X 1.06. and 1.45 

 X 1.06. Incubation 1-2. 



Being such a large and conspicuous 

 bird the Pileated is never spared 

 when it gets in range of gunners and 

 this is the principal cause of its de- 

 crease. I once shot a Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk that was making a desperate 

 attempt to catch a Pileated, and hawks 

 no doubt get one sometimes. A year 

 or two ago in summer along a trout 

 stream in virgin forest back in the 

 mountains, I came to a mossy spot 

 where a pileated had been wrecked 

 and a close inspection showed the 

 tracks of a huge wildcat w^ho had no 

 doubt caught the big woodpecker on 

 the ground or on a log. Last fall 

 very close to this spot I trapped one 

 of the largest and finest Bay Lynx I 

 ever saw and hope I got the culprit 

 who made away with one of my 

 Pileateds. 



At present I know of several pairs 

 nearby, but the bird is undoubtedly 

 growing scarcer. 



R. B. Simpson. 



This Issue. 



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Merry Christmas. 



