4-66 Stockard, Woodpeckers attd Vultures in Mississippi. \ q^^ 



I was always unable to observe this locality from about the 

 middle of June until the first of October, but feel sure that these 

 birds did not construct new nests during the summer. Further, 

 on careful searches, no additional pileated burrows were to be 

 seen in the fall, though the birds were still present. As mentioned 

 above it was noted that the same pair would nest in its wood of 

 the former year. In four instances, all of which had lost their 

 eggs the year before, the birds built their new burrows in their 

 several woods within a distance of about one quarter of a mile 

 from the previous nest site. These four are the only cases which 

 were watched with special care. As the birds confine themselves 

 so closely to a given district, and as each piece of woodland is 

 more or less distant from another, the birds are rather easy to 

 keep located. The FHcker, Red-headed, and Red-bellied Wood- 

 peckers of this vicinity also have the habit of nesting repeatedly 

 near the same site-after it is once chosen. 



Centurus carolinus. Red-bellied Woodpecker. — I have 

 found this woodpecker to be a most interesting bird to observe on 

 account of its remarkable ability for persistent laying. In the 

 spring of 1900 a nest of this species was located in a dead Cot- 

 tonwood tree which stood in an open pasture. The nest was a 

 burrow fifteen inches deep with a perfectly circular entrance 

 about forty feet above the ground. A set of five eggs was taken 

 from it on April 24. The entrance being small it was found 

 necessary to cut it larger so as to admit my hand. Twent3--three 

 days later the same nest contained a second set of five eggs, 

 slightly incubated. The enlarging of the entrance evidently had 

 had no ill effect except for the fact that the burrow had been 

 deepened several inches, probably to prevent an extra amount of 

 light on the floor of the nest. These birds seem to gauge the 

 depth of their excavations more by the amount of light admitted 

 than from any instinct to dig a certain distance. For example, 

 burrows that had their entrance just below a limb or were situated 

 in shady woods were noticed, as a rule, to be shallower than those 

 located in exposed fields or on the sunny side of the tree. The 

 second set mentioned above was taken May 17 and on returning 

 nine days later, May 26, a third set of five eggs was in the same 

 nest. The fact that this set followed the second so much closer 



