548 THE BIRDS OF J.IANITOBA THOMPSON. 



after which it became tolerably common ; breeds here 5 iu fall was last 

 seen ou September 2'4; 1886, first seen, one, on April 20; bulk arrived 

 May 15 ; last seeu May 22 ; is rare here ( Pluukett). Specimen in Smith- 

 sonian Institution from between Hudson's Bay and Lake Winnipeg, 

 also from lied River Settlement, Pembina, May 1, (Blakiston). Lake 

 Winnipeg (Bell). Sboal Lake, May 15, 1887 (Christy). Portage la 

 Prairie: Common summer resident about the streams and lakes; ar- 

 rives early in May ; commences nesting about the 15th of the month ; 

 departs iu October; iu 1884, first seen May 5 (Xash). Very abundant 

 on Red Deer, Swan, Assiniboiue, and all rivers along route of 1881 

 (Macoun). Carberry: Summer resident; more seen iu springtime 

 (Thompson). Daltou : 1889, first seen, one, on April 29; mo'^^ing unset- 

 tled ; rare here and not breeding (Youraens). Shell River : 1885, first 

 seeu, one, on May 1; next seen, one, on May 3; a transient visitant; not 

 breeding (Calcutt). Qu'Appelle: Tolerably common summer resident ; 

 breeds; arrives May 30 (Guernsey). 



I have never seen this species in the vicinity of any of the drainage 

 lakes, although they abound with amblystomte, insects, etc., to the ex- 

 clusion, however, of fish. 



134. Dryobates villosus leucomelas. Northern Hairy Woodpecker. 



Common resident of the woodlands. In heavy timber on Turtle Moun- 

 tain (Cones). Winnepeg: Rare; breeding (Hine). Portage la Prairie: 

 Tolerably common resident (Nash). Touchwood Hills and Lake Mani- 

 toba, and northward, 1880; in the woods along the Red Deer and Swan 

 Rivers, 1881 (Macoun). Carberry: Common; breeding; probably resi- 

 dent, but not observed by me in the very coldest weather. Rat Port- 

 age: Tolerably common (Thompson). Qu'Appelle: Tolerably common; 

 permanent resident (Guernsey). 



On June 11, 1883, while in the spruce bush, I heard a curious chirp- 

 ing sound that scarcely ever seemed to cease. I traced it to a tall pop- 

 lar tree, in whose trunk there was a hole about 30 feet from the ground. 

 Having procured an ax I soon had the tree down, and found myself iu 

 possession of a nest of young Hairy Woodpeckers. They were i-n a 

 hole, evidently the work of the parent birds, about a foot deep, 3 incbes 

 wide inside and 2 at the entrance. The four youngsters were nearly 

 grown and fledged, and consequently were much crowded in this narrow 

 chamber. Three of them were precisely like the mother- bird in color and 

 the fourth difiered only iu having over each ear a cockade of rich yellow. 

 I took them home with me and found that they had enormous appetites, 

 nearly unlimited capacity, and tremendous lung power. The whole d-iy 

 long, when not eating, they kept up a deafening chirr-chh-r-cJiirr, and 

 two of them, including the yellow-topped one, never ceased, except 

 in absolute darkness. Even while morsels of food were passing down 

 their greedy throats they would continue to gurgle out a sufficiency of 

 interrupted chirr chirrs to save the principle. I found that at one meal 



