SUPPLEMENT TO BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY 



117 



River from Danvers to Ipswich with the annual bird trip of the Essex County 

 Ornithological Club, I observed three pairs of this bird. One pair was seen going 

 in and out of a hole in a dead tree, and the female carried something in her bill. 



In the winter of 1918-19, there occurred a large flight of Hairy Woodpeckers 

 in eastern Massachusetts and I found them common at Ipswich. They looked 

 larger than usual and I secured two specimens, whose measurements are as 

 follows : 



C. W. T. Coll. 1483. January 12, 1919, J*; wing 136 mm.; tail 86 mm.; bill 

 32 mm. ; tarsus 17 mm. 



C. W. T. Coll. i486. February i, 1919, cJ'; wing 125 mm.; tail "JJ mm.; bill 

 3 1 mm. ; tarsus 20 mm. 



One, if not both, of these appears by the measurements to be referable to the 

 northern race, septentrionalis, but the plumage is that of villosus. 



Ridgway in his key to the species and subspecies of Dryohates^ characterizes 

 D. villosus septentrionalis, the Northern Hairy Woodpecker, as "averaging: wing 

 more than 130, tail more than 83, exposed culmen more than 31 mm.," and D. 

 villosus villosus as "averaging: wing less than 121, tail less than 75, exposed 

 culmen less than 30." 



Of course they may have been unusually large specimens of villosus. Unfor- 

 tunately, we do not know where they were reared. These birds as well as some 

 Downy Woodpeckers were feeding on the flaming, furry fruit of the staghorn 

 sumach. 



On one occasion I startled a female or young male Hairy Woodpecker that 

 rattled like a red squirrel as it flew from tree to tree with the feathers on the nape 

 erected in anger. The rattles, at times suggestive of those of the Kingfisher, were 

 also given on the wing and were interspersed with sharp clicks. As the bird flew 

 from tree to tree the fluttering of the wings could be distinctly heard. On the 

 limb of a tree the bird kept up a vigorous up-and-down bobbing of the head. This 

 performance continued for nearly ten minutes during all the time I stayed near. 



The ordinary whinny of the Hairy Woodpecker is lower in tone, more mellow, 

 and lacks the sharpness of the whinny of the Downy Woodpecker. 



178 [394c] Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swains.). 



Downy Woodpecker. 

 Common permanent resident. 

 Eggs: May 22 to June 21. 

 In October and November, 1918, there was a considerable migration of 



'Ridgway, R. Birds of North and Middle America, pt. 6, p. 196, 1914. 



