WOODPECKERS. 



iti all woods in whith wide op^enings have appeared by 

 decay. It permits the hunter to approach with ease, 

 soon catches the eye on account of its beautiful large 

 crest, and uttei-s it.s ecreechins note frequently eno-ugh 

 to arrest the traveller'.^ attention." This is all I have 

 discovered respecting the wild life, but it is sufficient 

 to make one marvel tliat the species has been so little 

 imported. An exajiiplo wiis received by Miss Christiana 

 Hagenbeck in 1877, and was sent to the Zoological 

 Gardene of Frankfort. 



TiLE.iTED OR Larger Red-crested WooDrECKER 

 {Dri/otomns 2iHeatus). 

 Smoky black ; edge of wing whdte spotted with black ; 

 fligihts with concealed white bases; outer webe of outer 

 jirimaries with sordid white terminal spot; forehead, 

 cromi and crest, as well as nuchal feathers and 

 moustachiid stripe, crimson ; a narrow white eyebrow- 

 stripe extending backwards to occiput; lower nasal 

 plumes and a broad stripe from nostril aci-oss face and 

 side of neck to side of chest, white ; chin and throat 

 white; rmder wing-coverts ajid axillaries white; sides 

 and flanks indistinctly and nariowly barred with greyish 

 white ; bill blacki.sh, grey above, pale horn-colour 

 bcneatih ; feet bluish-black; irides golden yellow. 

 Fiimale with the cheeks wholly black ; margins of 

 frontal feathers and most of crown dark brown, the re- 

 mainder black, the back of cixjwn and the crest alone 

 l)eing crimson. Hab.. "Formerly the whole wooded 

 region of Nort'h Jimerica up to 63 deg. N. lat. Now 

 rare or e.vtirpated in the more thickly settled parts 

 of the United States." (Hargitt.) 



Major Bendire ("Life Histories," Vol. II., 

 l»p. 102-107) : — " It is eminently a bird of the more exten- 

 sive forest regions, and is as much at home in a semi- 

 tropical as in a cold climate. As a i-ule, specimens from 

 the northern bordej-s of its range are considerably larger 

 than those from the south. There appears to be a con- 

 siderable difference in the habits of this ■bird ; in some, 

 sections it is extremely shy and wary, while in others 

 it is exactly the revei-se. 



"The oi-dinary call-note is a loud 'cack-cack-cack,' 

 eeveral time? repeated; another resembles the 'chuck- 

 iip ' of the Bed-shafted Flicker, only somewhat slower, 

 louder, and clearer ; others, again, remind one of the 

 cackling of a domestic lien. One of it? love notes, 

 according to Mr. A. Nelxriing, sounds like ' a-wuck, 

 a-wuck,' and one of alai'ni, or anger, ' ha-hi. ha-lhi.' It 

 is very noisy during the nesting season, and indulges in 

 a good deal of drumming at this time of year. I believe 

 they remain mated through life, and pairs are more 

 frequently seen than single birds. 



" Its food consists of the different species of boring 

 beetle,'? and their larvse infesting timbered tracts, and 

 of ants, many of w'hich it captures on tlie around ; it 

 al.=o fee<ls on wild grapes, the berries of the black gum, 

 dogwood,, pokeweed. service ben-ies, acorns, beechnuts, 

 and chestnuts. Considered from an economic point of 

 view, it does far more good than barm, and only attacks 

 decaxnng and fallen timber. 



"Its fliirht is batih strong and swift at times, but. a? 

 a rule, when at eaire it is slow and Crow-lik«, rather 

 more direct and not so undulating as that of meet of 

 our \Vcodi>eckers, and is often protracted for long 

 distances. 



" In southern Florida the mating season commences 

 early in March, and farther north coa're.?pondingly later. 

 A suitable tree having Ijeen selected, nenerally a dead 

 one in large and extensive woods, both birds work alter- 

 nately on the nesiting site. This is usually excavated 

 in the main trunk, from 12 to 75 feet from the ground, 

 and it takes from seven to twelve days to complete it. 



The entrance measures from 3 to 3i inches in diameter, 

 and It often goes 5 inches straight into the trunk before 

 It IS worked downward. The cavity varies from 7 to 

 30 inches in depth, and is gradually eidarged toward 

 the bottom, wlhere it is about 6 inches wide. A layer 

 of chips ds left at the bottom, on which the eg<Ts are 

 deposited. Occasionally the entrance hole, instead of 

 being circular, is oval in .sihape, like that of the Ivory- 

 billed Woodpecker. The inside of the cavity is quite 

 smooth, the edges of the entrance are nicely bevelled, 

 and taken as a whole, it is quite an artistic piece of 

 work. Some of the birds, {iresumably suck as have 

 been molested previously, ;u-e quite shy and artful, re- 

 moving every trace of dhips as soon 'as loosened and 

 dropping them in different places, at some distance 

 from the nesting site, so as not to betray its location by 

 the accumulation of chips at the ba.«e of the tree, and 

 occasionally they sliow, if possible still more intelli- 

 gence. Dr. William L. Ralph tells me that in the 

 sprmg of 1892 he found a nest of this si>ecies in Putnam 

 County, Florida, where the bird is quite common, exca- 

 vated in a dead cypress in swampy woods, which was 

 comparatively easy to get at. He found this in the 

 second week in April, about the time nidification is at 

 its height there. On rapping on the trunk of the tree 

 the bird, winch was at home, stuck his head out of the 

 liole and di-opped some chips, naturally causing the 

 Doctor to believe that the nesting site was still un- 

 fiiushed. The same performance was repeated on several 

 subsequent visits, and finally he concluded to examine 

 the nest anyhow, when he found nea.rly full-grown 

 .vonng. Tlris pair of birds must have had eggs at the 

 time he first discovered the nest, and the chips were 

 simply thrown out as a ruse to deceive him. 



"TOie trees miost often used for nesiting sites are 

 cypress, gum, pine, fig, tamaris;k, oiaik, syoamore. elm, 

 birch and cottcmvood. and in scuthern Flonida the trunk 

 otf the oaibbage ipiai'meitto also furnishes suiitable nesting 

 sites. Besides the customary layer of chips found in the 

 bottom of the hole, one of the nesting sites exsamined 

 by Dr. Ralph contained fully a nint cf clean ^and." 

 "From itihree to five eggs a.re'us-uallv laid to a .let, but 

 I have seen it stated that the Pileated Woodpecker 

 often kid six, and that a nest found near Farmvilile, 

 Virginia, loontained eight. An esrg is deposited daUyi 

 and incuibation begins ocoasionally before the set as 

 completed, and l!a.sts about eighteen d.ays, both -sexes 

 assisting in th's duty, as well as in oaring for tihe 

 young. Like all Woodpeokere. the Pileated are veny 

 devoted parents, and the young fallow ithem for some 

 weeks a.fter leaving the nest, until fully ciapable of 

 ca.ring for themselyas. Only one brood is raised in a 

 season. The eggs of the Pileated Woodpeoker are pure 

 china white in colour, mostly ovate in shape ; the shell 

 18 exceedingilv fine-grained and very glossy, as if 

 enianielled ; they a.re not a.s 'pointed as these of the 

 Ivorv-lbilled, and ayera>ge smaller. 



"The average measureanent ; <jf twenty -nine speci- 

 mens in the United States National Museum collection, 

 mostly frnm FWida. are 32.44 by 24.08 millimetres, or 

 about 1.28 by 0.95 inch." 



Russ says that this species reaches us verv rarely, 

 and indeed only in zoological gardens ; ag-ain, he speci- 

 fies no Daa-ticnliT gardens which have pofises^ed it. In 

 future itlhey iwill probably have to acquire it by exchancre 

 with the New Yoi'k Zoological Park or some other big 

 institution in tihe States. 



PiOMY Barred Woodpecker (Picumnus cirrhatus). 



Above brown, with UJ-defined buff-brownish bars ; 



wing-coverts tipped with buff-brownish or whity- 



bronn ; flights more or less edged internaUy with dull 



