iSSS.] Bendire on the Habits of the Genus Sfhyrapiciis. 2X1 



keep his bill in practice, chiselling. I am myself inclined to 

 think that the female does nearly, if not quite all the work on the 

 burrow in which she deposits her eggs. 



These birds are not at all shy during the breeding season, al- 

 lowing you to approach them closely, but they liave an extra- 

 ordinarily keen sense of hearing, I frequently tried to sneak up 

 to a tree close to my house which I knew had been selected by a 

 pair of these birds, to watch them at work, but I was invariably 

 tietected by the bird, no matter how carefully I tried to creep up, 

 before I was able to get within thirty yards, even when she was at 

 work on the inside of the burrow and could not possibly see me. 

 The bird would cease working at once, her head would pop out 

 of the hole for an instant, and the surroundings be surveyed care- 

 fully. Ifl kept out of sight and perfectly still, she would pro- 

 bably begin w^orking again a few minutes afterwards, but if I 

 moved ever so little, without even making the least noise, in my 

 own estimation, she would notice it and stop working again at 

 once. If the tree were approached too close she would fly ofl", 

 uttering at the same time a note resembling the word jay or 

 cJilie, several times repeated, which would invariably bring 

 the male around also, who had in the mean time kept himself 

 busy in some other tree, either drumming or hunting for food. 

 While the female was at work on the inside of the burrow, the 

 male would from time to time fly to the entrance and look in, 

 probably asking his mate how her work was coming on. how 

 soon they miglit begin housekeeping, etc. ; and at other times he 

 would hang for live or ten minutes even, just iielow the entrance 

 to the burrow, in a dreamy sort of stutly, perfectly motionless 

 and seemingly dazed, evidently thinking of the f;imily responsi- 

 bilities that were soon to come. 



I am inclined to think that this species does not indulge in 

 the halMt of girdling trees for the sap, and the soft inner l)avk 

 (cambium) to the same extent that Sphyrapic7is varins does, at 

 any rate not during the breeding season. These birds were, as 

 I said before, extremely abundant in the vincinity of Fort Kla- 

 math, and this being the case, evidence of their work in this direc- 

 tion should have been rather common. I don't remember having 

 seen more than two instances, showing extensive and svstem- 

 atic signs of girdling ; one, a medium-sized Cottonwood limb, 

 showed the punctures all over for a distance of three feet, the 



