128 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



l)on gives the ordinal*} 7 complement as four, although he has 

 sometimes met with six in a nest. They are described as 

 being smooth and of a pure white color. Dr. Brewer in 

 "North American Birds," in his description of an egg which 

 was sent to him by N. Giles, of N. Ca., says it is more 

 elliptical and less glossy than the eggs of Woodpeckers usu- 

 ally are. and measures .9^ of an inch in length and .70 in 

 width. Another, which he received from Monticello, Flor- 

 ida, was even less oblong than the former, and was similar- 

 ly characterized by its lack of polish. It measured .98 of 

 an inch in length and .70 in breadth. 



PiCUS VIIIOSUS, Li tin. 



The Hairy Woodpecker, or Larger Sap-Sucker, has quite 

 an extended range in the eastern parts of North America, 

 and is found almost everywhere east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Wilson found it exceedingly common from Hudson 

 Bay on the north to Georgia and the Carolinas, and Audubon, 

 a permanent resident in maritime and inland regions, from 

 New Hampshire to Texas, and throughout all wooded tracts, 

 from the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers 

 to the northern limits of the chain of Great Lakes. Rich- 

 ardson observed it as high north as the 6 v ^rd parallel of lati- 

 tude, and throughout the fur countries to the 56th parallel, 

 where it is the most common species, as the three-toed is in 

 the country beyond. Dr. Woodhouse met it in considerable 

 numbers in Texas and in the Indian Territory, and north- 

 westward along the shores of British Columbia which it ap- 

 parently reaches without crossing the Rocky Mountains in 

 the United States. 



In Eastern Pennsylvania, it is resident throughout the year, 

 and is quite abundant. It is to be seen almost everywhere, 

 and manifests a greater fondness for the haunts of man than 

 for more sequestered situations, although waste grounds and 

 dense forests occasionally resound with its characteristic 

 note, and the loud drumming sound which it produces by 



