y 



THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrateci Nlaga^iine of Popular Ornithologx- 



Pxatilistied Ts^^onthlv except in July and A-iagust. 



Volume 2. 



FEBRUARY MARCH, 1898. 



Numbers 6-7. 



NOTES ON THE AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 



(PICOIDES AM ERIC AN US.) 



WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



EEP in a primitive forest in the eastern 



part of Coos County, New 



Hampshire, very near one of 



^1 * the lower reaches of the Ma- 



[■x/" f^alloway River and not far 



from Lake'^Umbagog. lies a pond 



too small jto be noted on any map and 

 too secluded to be often visited by man 

 To the wild animals of the region it is well known. 

 Deer, and occasionally moose, browse about its 

 grassy margins ; Muskrats, Great Blue Herons, Wil- 

 son's Snipe, and Solitary Sandpipers haunt its 

 muddy, reed-grown coves ; Eagles, Ospreys and 

 Kingfishers by day and Great Horned and Barred 

 Owls by night perch on the stubs along its shores, 

 while at all seasons, when it is free from ice, it is a 

 favorite resort for various kinds of Ducks 



Much of the land about this pond is low and hav- 

 ing been long subject to inundation is now covered 

 only by dead or dying trees, some dry and bleached, 

 others sodden and crumbling, with here and there a 

 still green and vigorous river maple and everywhere 

 over the more open spaces a profusion of rank, wir\ 

 grasses. 



But on the eastern side where an elevated ridge 

 approaches the pond the banks are above the reach 

 of the highest floods and the land in the rear slopes 

 gently upward At this point a dense, vigorous 

 forest of spruces balsams and arbor vitaes, inter- 

 mingled with a few deciduous trees, comes quite to 

 the water's edge and here, on June 2d, 1897, I found 

 my first nest of the Banded Three-toed Woodpecker. 



I had landed to take a photograph of the pond and 

 was just pushing off in the boat again when my guide 

 exclaimed 'Isn't that a Three-toed Woodpecker?" 

 Looking up I noticed, for the first time, a freshly 

 drilled hole in the trunk of a dead spruce and the 

 next instant saw a male Picoides running up the stem 

 of a tree beyond. I had only a glimpse at him before 

 he flew back into the forest where he presently began 

 drumming, making an even, continuous roll very 

 like that of the Downy Woodpecker but much 



feebler. Perhaps his drumming place lacked resonance 

 although when he changed it for another, as hap- 

 pened twice within the next few minutes, the roll 

 was no louder. After drumming a dozen times or 

 more he gave a long vocal call closely similar to the 

 Kingfisher-like rattle of the Hairy Woodpecker. 



I followed him for some distance without seeing 

 him again and then returned to watch the nest hole. 

 As the camera had been placed within a few feet of 

 the dead spruce and as my guide had cut down 

 several small trees that stood close about it we sus- 

 pected that the noise had disturbed the bird and that 

 he had slipped away from the nest without attracting 

 our attention. This surmise proved correct for no 

 sooner was everything quiet again than I heard the 

 peculiar, hollow rustling of wings which all Wood- 

 peckers make when taking short, halting flights and 

 the next instant the bird struck against the trunk of 

 the dead spruce a few feet below the hole. Up to 

 this time I had taken it for granted that at the best 

 I had stumbled on an occupied nest of Picoides 

 arcticiis — a good find, of course, provided it proved to 

 contain eggs. But what was my surprise and de- 

 light when, with the bird in plain view and scarce 

 ten yards distant, I saw at once by his small size 

 and the white bands on the back that I had discov- 

 ered one of the very rarest of New England bird 

 nests and one quite new to me, viz., that of Picoides 

 iiDu-yicamis. The bird was the same that we had 

 driven away from the nest — the male — and a beauti- 

 ful creature he was with his clear yellow crown — the 

 feathers of which he raised every now and then in a 

 loose crest -contrasting finely with the black and 

 white of his general plumage and gleaming like a 

 spot of sunlight against the background of dark 

 evergreen foliage. .Although he looked keenly around 

 before clambering up to the hole he did not discover 

 us until just as he reached it when he instantly re- 

 sorted to one of the prettiest tricks that I have ever 

 seen practiced b)- a bird surprised at its nest and 

 anxious to avert suspicion. He began pecking at 

 the trunk just below the hole, prying off small 



