94 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



made by the male for his own use to pass the nights in and be close to his mate 

 in case of danirer; or, ayain, just to keep his bill in chiselinti' practice. I am 

 myself inclined to think that the female does nearly, if not quite all, the work 

 on the cavity in which she deposits her eggs. 



These birds are not at all shy during the breeding season, allowing you to 

 approach them closely ; but they have an extraordinarily keen sense of hearing. 

 I frequently tried to sneak up to a tree close to my house which I knew had 

 been selected by a pair of these birds, to watch them at work, but I was inva- 

 riably detected by the bird, no matter how carefully I tried to creep up, before 

 I was able ta get within 30 yards, even Avhen she was at work on the inside of 

 the cavity and could not possibly see me. The bird would cease working at 

 once, her head would pop out of the hole for an instant, and the surroundings 

 be surveyed carefully. If I kept out of sight and perfectly still, she would 

 probably begin working again a few minutes afterwards, but if I moved ever 

 so little, without even making the least noise, in my own estimation, she would 

 notice it and stop working again at once. If the tree were ajjproached too 

 closelv, she would iiy ofF, uttering at the same time a note resembling the word 

 'jay,' or 'chile,' several times repeated, which would invariably bring the male 

 around also, who had in the meantime kept himself busy in some other tree, 

 either drumming or hunting for food. While the female was at work on the 

 inside of the excavation the male would fly to the entrance, from time to time, 

 and look in, probabl}' asking his mate how her vi-ork was coming on, how soon 

 they might begin housekeeping, etc.; and at other times he would hang, for 

 five or ten minutes even, just below the entrance to the l)urr()w, in a dreamy 

 sort of study, perfectly motionless and seemingly dazed, evidently thinking of 

 the family responsibilities that were soon to come. 



I am inclined to think that this species does not indulge in the habit of 

 girdling trees for the sap and the soft inner bark (camhium) to the same extent 

 that Sjilii/rapicHS rarlits does — at any rate, not during the breeding season. 

 These birds were, as I said before, extremely abundant in the vicinity of I''\)rt 

 Klamath, and this being- the case, evidence of their work in this direction should 

 have been rather common. I do not remember having seen more than two 

 instances showing extensive and systematic signs of girdling — one, a medium- 

 sized Cottonwood limb, showed the punctures all over for a distance of 3 feet; 

 the other, a species of mountain ash, on which none of the shoots were over 3 

 inches through, had been riddled all over by the birds. These mountain-ash 

 shrubs, none of which grow to any size, were rare, however, in that vicinity. 



Throughout its range I think this species breeds frequently at lower alti- 

 tudes than Splnjrapiciis varlus nuchalis. Fort Klamath, however, although but 

 4,200 feet above sea level, has a very cool summer climate, frosts occurring in 

 almost every month of the year. The surrounding country is very beautiful at 

 that time. Heavy, open forests of stately pines and firs, among these the grace- 

 ful and beautiful sugar pine, are found on the mountain sides and reaching Avell 

 down into the green, park-like valleys. Interspersed here and there are aspen 



