374 HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



Ynunff. Tlicve ii* a sul])liury tinge to the white markings, and the inner white tail featlier is tipped with black, iu' 

 both sexes and, in the uiale, the scarlet patch on the occiput is more restricted; otherwise similar to the adult. Iris, red- 

 dish-brown, bill, black, bluish at biise of lower mandible, and feet, Iiluish, in all the preceding stages. 



Ncst/ini/ male. Very much tinged on the white with sulphury, the forehead is spotted with white, and the top of tlie 

 head is spotted with scarlet; otherwise as in tlie young female. 



Ncstlintj female. A specimen before me, belonging to the Bangs Brothers, taken from the nest in Lincoln, Massacliu- 

 setts, on tlie eighteenth of June, 1877, and which was only half grown, has the forehead spotted with white and is slightly 

 tinged with sulphury on the white; otherwise similar to the young female. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Specimens from the Snuth, although smaller in size, do not differ striekingly in color. They may, however, lie a trifle 

 darker as an average but there is considerable variation in this respect ia birds from all sections; thus, a skin taken at 

 Smithville, North Carolina, shows as much, or more, white as any from Pennsylvania or from further north. A" there is a 

 most perfect gradation in size, from the large northern variety to the small southern one, I do not see the feasibility of ap- 

 plying a name to either exti-eme as it is not possible to draw a line between them, and the same remarks might be ajjplica- 

 ble to almost any geographical race, unless it lie separated from its allies by some miluril division which prevents any two 

 forms from intergrading. Distributed, as a constant rosiden., throughimt North America 



DIMENSIONS. 



Arcriige measurements of seven specimens from New England. Length, 85; stretch, 14'70; wing, 4'83; tail, 3.'5.5; 

 bill, 1-33, tarsus, -93. Longest specimen, 10'.5(); greatest extent of wing, Ki-5U; longest wing, 5-07: tail, 4-00; bill, 1-36; 

 tarsu-;. M)0. Shortest specimen, 9-L'O; smallest extent of wing, loMlO; shortest wing. 4'00; tail, 3'10; bill, TIO; tarsus, -85. 



Aveiage measurements of live specimens from Florida. Lengtli, 8-70; stretch, 14'()0, wing, 4-G5; tail, 2-'J7; bill, ViY2\ 

 tarsus, (iT. Longest specimen, O'D.); greatest extent of wing, lo'OO; l.mgest wing,4'7.5; tail, 3 '20, bill, I'OS; tarsus, -75. 

 Sliortost specimen, 8-50; smallest extent of wing, 13-00; shortest wing, 4-50; tail, 'J-7.5; bill, 1 00; tarsus, -60. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



NcUs placed in cylinder-shaped holes, lenerally excavated .n dead t;ces. Dimensions, diameter of external orifice, 

 •J-Uo, gieates; ictenial, 2-50. Internal deptii, 1;>00. 



Euijs, four or live in number, elliptical in foini, pure, polished pearly-white in cclor. Dimensions Irom 65x -TO- to 

 7.5 X -80. 



HABITS. 



The Hairy Woodpeckers have, like the Golden-wing, a wide distribution, being found 

 in nearly all localities from Maine to Florida but, in some sections, they arc much more 

 common than in others. Thus, I have found them exceedingly abundant in the vfist for- 

 ests of Northern j^Jaiue in autumn but, in Massachusetts, they are not of very frequent 

 occurrence, even iu fall or winter, tmd are rare in summer. They occur in till (he wooded 

 sections of Pennsylvania as a moderately common resident, are not unusual south of this 

 jioint, especially in the Carolinas, and in Florida, I have taken them quite frequently, al- 

 though, when compared with many other of the smaller Woodpeckers, as regards numbers, 

 in a section where representatives of the families are so abundant, they appear (juitc un- 

 common, for I did not find one Ilairy where I found a hundred of the Cockaded or Red 

 and Yellow-bellied. 



Although these Woodpeckers are found in such ;i vast extent of country, their habits 

 do not difTcr noticeably, neither do those which live in the pir.cy woods ol' Florida, utter 

 any differc-at notes from those which inhabit the forests of Maine. It is observable, how- 

 ever, that in the South, the harsh, abruptly given cry is not rep(>at(jd as frequently as iu 

 Ihe North, neither is the rattling call produced by striking tlie bill on a, dc;id liniii, made 

 as often; in fact, the Woodpeckers of Florida, of all species, appear to be aifectcd by the 

 enervating climate and are thus nuich more indolent than birds of the same species which 



