BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 281 



general thing- it is located on the southerly side and directly 

 underneath a large limb, but not invariably so. Still I have 

 never yet met with an instance of its being on the north side 

 of the tree. 



They seem to manifest no choice between the borders, or the 

 interior of the forests, only that the tree chosen more com- 

 monly is one of considerable size. Both sexes participate in 

 the excavation of the nest, which in a green or a very dry tree, 

 is sometimes a tedious and prolonged undertaking. The work- 

 manship in such cases is highly artistic, looking more as if a 

 carpenter of a higher order and genus, with modern tools, had 

 performed it. They lay four pure- white eggs. When the young 

 come out, and have become considerably grown, they creep 

 out onto the outside of the tree and larger branches daily until 

 strong enough to fly, after which the whole family hunt to- 

 gether until about the 10th of October, when they move off 

 southward to winter. That they sometimes rear a second 

 brood in the same season seems almost certain, as I have found 

 young birds as late as the fifth of October, and Mr. M. W. Van- 

 denburg, of Fort Edward, N. Y. , who was visiting this city in 

 1870, reported a young bird of this species on the 17th of that 

 month. But this is certainly very exceptional. 



Mr. Lewis found them one of the most common woodpeckers 

 of Becker and Cass counties, breeding in June. Mr. Washburn 

 reported them as common at Georgetown, about the first of 

 August. Dr. Hvoslef mentions them as at Lanesboro, but does 

 not speak of their relative frequency. Prof. Herrick found 

 them at Lake Shetak, and Mr. Treganowan at Big Stone. But 

 I was a little surprised that Mr. U. S. Grant, assistant of Prof. 

 Winchell on the geological survey, did not find them in either 

 St. Louis, Lake or Cook counties, in the northeastern portion 

 of the state. His observations embraced the month of August, 

 when if the species is represented there at all, they certainly 

 must have fallen under his notice, as they were then moving 

 about supposably in family groups of five or six, embracing 

 parents and young. 



Becker and Cass counties are nearly as far north as those 

 where Mr. Grant made his valuable observations, so that the 

 question of mere latitude gives no explanation for their absence. 

 Besides, it is well known that "Sir John Richardson found it 

 common in the fur countries," (N. A. Birds, p. 540,) very much 

 further to the north, Kennicott makes no mention of them at 

 the Lake of the Woods, although it was as late, when he was 

 there, as the bird has been reported in the Saskatchewan. 



161-. 



