274 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



female came out and the male entered to excavate. He too 

 passed the chips out from time to time and the female made 

 an attempt to take them, but probably owing to her smaller 

 mouth capacity more or less were spilled at the foot of the tree. 

 As the mule was about to appear with a load of chips he 

 usually uttered a muffled " skip." 



On May 28, 1894, I collected the eggs laid in this nest 

 which were then about seven days incubated. These eggs meas- 

 ure 0.92 X 0.74, 0.93 x 0.71, 0.94 x 0.71, and were pure glossy 

 white. The nest was in a hole in an ash stub fourteen feet up 

 and the hole was seven inches deep. This was in a swampy 

 tract near the shore of Pushaw Stream. 



As I rapped on the stub the male flew out and " yipped " 

 until the female appeared. He seemed to be discoursing 

 excitedly to her for both in turn lit near the nest and cautiously 

 peered into the hole. Finally the female entered and re- 

 appeared in a puzzled sort of a way, re-entering to remain 

 while the male flew off*. I rapped on the stub again and the 

 actions of the birds were repeated. They seemed to think the 

 queer noise was in some way due to a giant beetle or grub 

 working in the woods, but Anally one of them saw me and the 

 mystery being explained they disappeared, not to return until 

 I climbed to the nest. 



394c. Dryohates puhescens medianus (Swains.). Downy 

 Woodpecker; Little Sapsucker; Little Guinea Woodpecker. 



Plumage of adult male : nape with scarlet band ; above black except for 

 white in middle of back, white spots on wings and their coverts and white 

 on outer tail feathers which latter are black barred ; stripe above and below 

 eye and under parts white. Plumage of adult female: scarlet nape band 

 lacking, otherwise similar. Wing 3.50 to 4.00 ; culmen 0.70. 



Geog. Dist. — Middle and northern parts of the Eastern United States north 

 to Labrador ; resident throughout its range. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; common resident, (Johnson). Aroos- 

 took; common resident, (Knight). Cumberland; common resident, (Mead). 

 Franklin ; common resident, (Swain). Hancock ; common resident, nests 

 commonly on the wooded islands of the coast, (Knight). Kennebec ; abund- 



