THE .\( )in'lll-.R.\ I'll.lvXTl'.l) WOODPECKER. 439 



whites are everywlicre tinned witli i)ali' sulpliiir yelli i\v. the color hehig es])eeiaUy 

 noticeable in the axillaries and hning of wings. Adult female: Similar, but black 

 on forehead, and black instead of red malar strijjcs. Length 15.30-19.00 {},<-)2,-7- 

 482.6); wing 8.50-10.00 (215.9-254): tail 5.85-7.40 ( 148.6-188); head 4.50-5.50 

 (II4-3-I39-7) : ^liH 1-75-2.65 (44-5-67-3I- 



Recognition Marks. — Largest size: l.)lack, white and red on head in strijies; 

 bod\- mainl\- black. 



Nesting. — X'cst: high in dead trees. Iuj(/s: 4-6. white. .\v. size, 1.J9X.94 

 (32.8x23.9). Sciisoii: May: one hnKid. 



General Range. — Formerly the heavily wooded regions of Xorth .\nierica 

 south of alxmt latitude 63°, except in the southern Rocky Mountains. Now rare 

 or extirpated in the more settled jiarts of the Eastern States. 



Range in Washington. — Xol miconnnon resident in larger coniferous for- 

 ests thruout the State. 



Authorities. — | Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814) Ed. liiddle: Cones, \'ol. 

 II. p. 18:;. I Ilxlatoinns pilcatus P.aird, Baird, T-iep. Pac. R. R. Surv. L\. 1858, 

 p. 107. T. C&S. L-'. Rh. I)'. Ra. Kk. 11. E. 



Specimens. — V. of W. P. Prov. I!. MX. 



OXE'S first ac(|iiaintaiice with this huge black fowl marks a red-letter 

 clay in woodcraft, and it is jjerniitted the scriotis student to examine the bird 

 anatomically just once in a life-time. The scarlet crest attracts first attention, 

 not only because of its brilliancw btit because its presence counterbalances the 

 bill, and im])arts to the head its hammer-like aspect. This crest was much 

 sought after by the Indians of our coast, and figured ])rominently as a personal 

 decoration in their medicine dances, as did the bird itself in their medicine lore. 

 A measurement of twenty-eight inches from wing-tip to wing-tip marks the size 

 of this "Black Woodcock," while the stiffened tail-feathers with their dowij- 

 turned vanes show what adequate support is given the clinging claws when the 

 bird delivers one of its powerful strokes. The bill is the marvel. Made ap- 

 parently of horn, like other birds' bills, it has some of the attributes of teni- 

 l)ered steel. The bird uses it recklessly as both axe and crowljar, for il hews 

 its way thru the bark of our largest dead fir trees, in its efforts to get at the 

 grul)s, which ha\e their greatest field of acti\ily between the bark and the 

 wood. It pries off great chips and flakes by a sidewise wrench of its heail. 

 A carpenter is known by his chips, but no carpenter would ])ut his chisels to 

 such hard service as the bird does his. -Xs a result there is no mistaking 

 the bark jjile which surrounds the base (A certain old stubs in the forest for 

 the work of any other agency. 



Possibly the most interesting of all i.^ the Log-cock's tongue, which it is 

 able to protrude stiddenly to a distance of four or five inches beyond the ti]) 

 of its beak. This jjrovision enables the l)ird to economize labor in the track- 

 ing of buried sweets, and the arrangement is maile possible b\- the great 



