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106 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
The habits of this bird are so well known, that any 
description here seems to be a work of supererogation. 
About the first week in May, the males begin to pay court 
to the females ; at this period their movements are amusing. 
“ Their note is merriment itself, as it imitates a prolonged and 
jovial laugh, heard at a considerable distance. Several males pur- 
sue a female, reach her, and, to prove the force and truth of their 
love, bow their heads, spread their tails, and move sidewise, back- 
wards, and forwards, performing such antics as might induce any one 
witnessing them, if not of a most morose temper, to join his laugh 
to theirs. The female flies to another tree, where she is closely fol- 
lowed by one, two, or even half a dozen of these gay suitors, and 
where again the same ceremonies are gone through. No fightings 
occur, no jealousies seem to exist among these beaux, until a marked 
preference is shown to some individual, when the rejected proceed 
in search of another female. In this manner, all the Golden- 
winged Woodpeckers are soon happily mated. Each pair imme- 
diately proceed to excavate the trunk of a tree, and finish a hole in 
it sufficient to contain themselves and their young. They both 
work with great industry and apparent pleasure. Should the male, 
for instance, be employed, the female is close to him, and congratu- 
lates him on the removal of every chip which his bill sends 
through the air. While he rests, he appears to be speaking to her 
on the most tender subjects, and when fatigued is at once assisted 
by her. In this manner, by the alternate exertions of each, the 
hole is dug and finished.” — AUDUBON. 
This is often as much as twenty inches in depth, and in 
a solid tree very often at that. On the bottom of this hole, 
the female lays six pure-white eggs: these are generally of 
uniform ovoidal shape, and vary in size from 1 to 1.16 inch 
in length, by from .82 to .92 in breadth. 
When the eggs are removed, the female, after a couple 
of days’ deliberation, lays another litter; and I have known 
of this being repeated several times by a bird that was 
unwilling to leave the nest which she and her mate had 
been at so much labor to prepare. Instances have occurred 
