thp: fijckkr. 39 



freight trains went lumbering along, but she seemed unmind- 

 ful of what was going on around her. Mr. Smith watched 

 this bird for two days, when he was unavoidably called away 

 for some ten or twelve days and on his return found that the 

 tree had been cut down and carted away. Nearly all agree 

 that both sexes assist in the work. Mr. Angus Gaines men- 

 tions a pair in particular, near neighbors and good friends of 

 his, selecting a well seasoned snag, hard and tough, both birds 

 working with a will, turns about, in constructing the nest 

 hole, and returning to the same upon succeeding years. Mr. 

 PYancis R. Cope, Jr., says that in one nest he watched con- 

 struction during the spring of '92, all the chips were carefully 

 carried awa}- some distance into a neighboring meadow ; but 

 in all other cases this precaution was not taken, the ground 

 immediately around the foot of the tree being plentifully be- 

 sprinkled with chips. In the first instance the male would 

 work at the hole for about five minutes and then after carry- 

 ing away all the chips, his place would be taken b}' the female, 

 who in turn would labor diligently for another five minutes or 

 so, alwa3'S carefull}- carr3-ing away every chip she made. In 

 Iowa, Mr. Jones finds that it does not carry the chips from 

 the excavation any distance from the nest, the chips being 

 scattered broadcast, some falling at the foot of the tree. Mr. 

 J. H. Bowles states that it will sometimes desert its nest when 

 half finished and begin a new one, a trait so common with 

 man}^ of our Woodpeckers. Mr. Stephen J. Adams has found 

 that it requires from one week to twenty days to complete this 

 work and it is often carried on after the eggs are laid, enlarg- 

 ing and smoothing up the cavity, which accounts for the eggs 

 found buried in "sawdust" now and then. Mr. James B. 

 Purdy's experience has been that it takes about two weeks to 

 complete the nest. On April "i^nd a Nebraska bird was scared 

 from her nest in a box alder when the cavity was ten inches 

 deep, and on May 4th seven fresh eggs were collected from 

 the hole, now twent}--two inches deep. Allowing a week for 

 deposition, the additional twelve inches must have been hewn 

 out in five daj'S or less — something over two inches daily. 

 When a pair has been robbed, Mr. J. Warren Jacobs finds that 

 in most cases the hole is dug an inch or .so deeper before 

 another set of eggs is deposited ; and Mr. C. H. Morrel reports 



