288 General Notes. [j^^^,^ 



The Pileated Woodpecker (Ccop/ihvus pilcafits) in Minnesota. — The 

 accompanving photographs (Plate X) were taken in deep woods along 

 the Le Sueur River about four miles southeast of Mankato, Minnesota, 

 in the early spring of 1S97, and show clearly the work of the Pileated 

 Woodpecker or ' Logcock.' This woodpecker is now seldom seen in the 

 southern part of the State and is little known to most people. 



Both stumps were dead maples. That shown in Fig. 1 was broken otf 

 about six feet from the ground and at the fracture was fourteen inches 

 in diameter. Three openings were originally made in the stump by the 

 birds but these do not show in the photograph, since the camera did not 

 directly face them. When examined, a groove had been dug away along 

 the exterior so that the two upper openings converged into one ; but there 

 was still a narrow constriction which indicated that they had, most likely, 

 once been separated. The upper portion of this hole was 10 inches long 

 by 6 inches wide and the lower was 15 inches long by ^l wide. Below 

 these was another hole 6 inches long by 3 wide. The two lower holes 

 did not expand after entering but the upper, where the stump had broken 

 before the photograph was taken, extended slightly upward and a much 

 greater distance downward, the latter extension being enlarged to make 

 room for the nest. At the base of the stump were many chips some of 

 which were half an inch in diameter and 3 inches long. The wood had 

 decayed some but it was still too firm to be broken easily with the hand 

 or by an ordinary blow, which showed that the bird must have exerted 

 great force in order to remove the chips. The broken end of the piece 

 of the stump that had fallen faced the camera directly and the large, 

 nearly central excavation is plainly visible. 



Fig. 2 shows another maple stub which stood within a few feet of the 

 one just described. The top had long since fallen off and what remained 

 was 18 feet high and a foot in diameter. There were three holes near the 

 top, in fact the uppermost one ran entirely to the top and was 3^ feet 

 long by 4 inches wide. Just below this was a second which was a foot 

 long and 5 inches wide. A third just below the second was ih. feet long 

 and 4 inches wide. At the base this stump had been pecked all around so 

 that it was almost ready to fall. The holes at the top of the stump were 

 evidently made for nesting purposes but the work at the base was probably 

 done in search of grubs or insects which were lodged in the decaying 

 wood. 



A few specimens of this retiring bird are still seen in the region of 

 Mankato but the rapid disappearance of the forests marks its speedy 

 withdrawal. In the early spring of 1900 a specimen was brought to my 

 laboratory from a region six miles south of Mankato, and at about the 

 same time in 1901 a specimen was taken twelve miles south of Mankato. 

 One or two other specimens were reported from the same region at the 

 time the latter specimen was taken. 



While on a three months' collecting trip in northern Minnesota in the 

 region of Lake Vermillion last summer about eight of these birds were 



