HAIRY WOODPECKER. ^ "^ 



sire liaichcd in more borojil climes. I do not mean to say that Florida Woodpeckers have 

 ahsohitftly no energy, for energy is as much one of the characteristics of a Woodpecker as 

 i.-i his wedge-shaped bill or acuminate tail, but only, that they do not exhibit this quality 

 to such an extensive degree as do their northern brethren. This lack of enterprise in 

 Southern Ilairys is also shown in a peculiar way for, although all members of the family 

 iire far from being neat, regarding their plumage, yet this is not always as observable as 

 in specimens from Florida. The piney woods, in this section, are very often burned; con- 

 sequently, the tree trunks are more or less blackened and, as the Woodpeckers run up and 

 down on them, the white feathers of the under parts become tinged with it; therefore, as 

 the birds neglect to clean themselves, in course of time, they become nearly, or quite, as 

 dusky below as above. Birds of this species from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are 

 generally quite clean but those from Maine and further north, have their tails stained by 

 the tannic acid from the hemlock bark. Thus, aside from size, it is quite easy to tell in 

 what section on the coast any particular specimen was taken by observing these extrane- 

 ous marks. Thus I have noted that the Hairy Woodpeckers which occur in Massachu- 

 setts in winter, seldom have buff-stained tails; consequently, judge that they do not come 

 from fiir north, yet the species is partly migratory for, during some extreme cold seasons, 

 we do occasionally have a flight of northern Hairy Woodpeckers. 



I liave never seen the nest of Hairy Woodpeckers but judge that they breed early. I 

 found a hole, however, containing young, during the first week in June at Williamsport, 

 Pennsylvania. I ascended to the nest wliich was built in a small dead poplar at an elova- 

 linu di' about twenty foet. As I was unable to reach the young, I could not ascertain how 

 (lid they were but, judging by the loud, continuous, hissing noise which they made, they 

 must have been quite well advanced. The nest of this species is seldom found in Eastern 

 Massachusetts and I know of but two instances of its having been taken here; one, as re- 

 lated under description, in Lincoln on the eighteenth of June, 1877, by the Bangs Broth- 

 ers, which contained young about half grown, and a second, by Mr. H. A. Purdio, in 

 Concord on the thirtieth of May last past (1879). This one contained eggs nearly ready 

 to hatch. Thus we may judge that the eggs are deposited about the tenth of may in ]\Iass- 

 achusetts, a little later in Maine, a week or so earlier in Pennsylvania, and considerably 

 in advance of this time as we proceed southward. 



The Hairy Woodpeckers, as fixr as I have observed, feed entirely upon insects, largclj'^ 

 upon the larvce of the boring beetle. They have been accused of eating tlie inner bark 

 of trees and, although this charge can scarcely be proved against our Eastern birds, it ap- 

 pears that the same species West is not above suspicion in this respect. This bark-eating 

 propensity must be indulged in to a limited extent and few, if any, who have given the 

 matter close attention, will venture to assert that the Hairy Woodpeckers are not very use- 

 ful birds. 



The Hairy Woodpeckers occur as far south as Middle Floriila but I never saw a spec- 

 imen at Miami or among the Keys although it is i)robable that they occur rarely in all 

 sections of the niain-laml but I do not think that they breed south of Cape Cannaveral on 

 the East, yet they are found a little fulln'r soutli on the West. 



