282 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



engaged in tearing up a huge stub and searching for insects 

 in the rotten wood. 



It is almost impossible to mistake the signs left where one of 

 these birds has been working as there is no other bird capable 

 of doing so much work in leveling the rotten timber. While 

 so engaged it is finding many injurious timber destroying insects 

 which it devours, and the tearing down of the rotten stubs is 

 also a benefit to the adjoining timber. The hammering and 

 drumming of this species is to be heard a very long distance, 

 being louder than one can imagine unless they have heard it. 



They have several calls, one sounding much like "wuck-a- 

 wuck" another like "cack, cack, cack, a cack, cack" and still 

 another "hi-hi". One engaged in working in the rotten wood 

 will often keep up a continuous chuckling and clucking, seem- 

 ingly engaged in conversation with itself. At most seasons 

 they are seen in pairs and probably remain mated for life. 



An article written by the late Clarence H. Morrell which 

 was printed in the Journal of the Maine Ornithological Society 

 for July 1901 j is so full of valuble information regarding their 

 breeding habits that it is reproduced here in full. Mr. Morrell 

 writes as follows: "For a number of years my acquaintance 

 with this species was very slight, being limited to the examina- 

 tion of a few mounted specimens and an occasional glimpse of 

 one in the woods, where they always seemed particularly wild 

 and wary. On May 16, 1895, I unexpectedly formed a closer 

 acquaintance with a pair of these birds. Returning from a trip 

 through a large block of woodland, I had reached the outer 

 portion of it, a small patch of good sized trees with a little 

 underbrush, particularly separated from the main growth, by 

 cutting, when my attention was attracted to a large hole, thirty 

 feet from the ground, in a small beech tree. I had taken but 

 a few steps toward the tree when the head of a Pileated Wood- 

 pecker appeared at the entrance. Although I had my climbing 

 irons, I did not investigate, thinking the bird was digging the 

 hole, and not wishing to drive it away. I had no idea what 



