WOODPECKERS. 51 



is generally downward, by an angle of thirty or 

 forty degrees, for the distance of six or eight inches, 

 and then straight down for ten or twelve more ; 

 within roomy, capacious, and as smooth as if polished 

 by the cabinet-maker ; but the entrance is judiciously 

 left just so large as to admit the body of the owner. 

 During this labour they regularly carry out the chips, 

 often strewing them at a distance, to prevent sus- 

 picion. This operation sometimes occupies the 

 chief part of a week. The female, before she begins 

 to lay, often visits the place, passes out and in, ex- 

 amines every part, both of the exterior and interior, 

 with great attention, as every prudent tenant of a 

 new house ought to do, and at length takes complete 

 possession. The eggs are generally six, pure white, 

 and laid on the smooth bottom of the cavity."* 



The red-bellied woodpecker (Picus Carolinus) 

 also digs a cavity for its nest, but seems anxious to 

 procure all possible shelter from the weather by 

 selecting the lower side of some lofty branch, that 

 makes a considerable angle with the horizon. It 

 prefers, however, the hollow limb of a tree, making 

 the excavation twelve or fifteen inches above where 

 it becomes solid. The same anxiety for protection 

 leads most of the species to cut out a- very narrow 

 opening. That of the yellow-bellied woodpecker 

 (Picus varius) Wilson describes as almost exactly 

 circular, and so small, for the size of the bird, that 

 it can creep out and in with difficulty ; but within it 

 suddenly widens, descending by a small angle, and 

 then running downward about fifteen inches, the 

 eggs being laid on the smooth solid wood. This 

 plan is also pursued by the red-headed woodpecker 

 (Picus erythrocephalusi), which is so little afraid of 

 man that it not unfrequently breeds in the trees 

 growing in the streets of the American cities. Wil- 

 son found several of these nests within the bounda- 



* Wilson, Amer. Ornith., i., 154. 

 f Ibid., 145-147. 



