374 Pileated Woodpecker 



ward for a little more than three feet, turning slightly to the right as it 

 descended. Why the hole had not been dug straight downward I could 

 not discover, as there was no knot or other indication of especially 

 hard wood that would seem to turn the builders aside. Nevertheless, 

 the bottom of the hole, where, on a layer of fine chips the eggs and young 

 must have rested, was at least four inches to the right of the entrance. 



This nest was found in one of the innumerable hammocks which sur- 

 round many of the lakes in central Florida. Here the heavy growths 

 of oak, magnolia, hickory, and gum, make an ideal home for these timid 

 Woodpeckers. The birds are still abundant in suitable regions of that 

 state, but one should go to the primeval forests to find them, for they 

 do not like woodlands that have been cut over, and it is very rare to see. 

 one in the open pine-barrens of the sandy country. 



Next to the giant Ivory-billed, which is now almost extinct in the 

 United States, the Pileated is the largest of the Woodpecker family 

 found in this country. In order to get a somewhat accurate impres- 

 sion of its size one may think of it in comparison 

 to a Crow. From tip of bill to tip of tail the 

 Common Crow is about eighteen inches, and when 

 the wings are spread to their greatest extent the distance from tip to 

 tip is about twenty-seven inches. The same measurements for the Wood- 

 pecker under discussion are seventeen inches in length and twenty-seven 

 and a half inches across when the wings are expanded. 



There is, however, much individual variation in the size of both birds. 

 For example, the Woodpecker ranges in length from fifteen inches to 

 nineteen inches, and the expanse of wings varies in different individual 

 birds from twenty-five to thirty inches, so it is a perfectly truthful state- 

 ment to say that the Pileated Woodpecker is as large as a Crow. 



The eggs of this species, like those of all other Woodpeckers, are 

 glossy white. They range in number from four to six, and in size 

 measure about one and a quarter inches in length and a little less 

 than an inch in width. The period of incubation is eighteen days. The 

 young are hatched naked and are extremely helpless. They do not leave 

 the nesting-cavity until the wing-quills are well grown and the birds 

 are quite able to fly. The parents take turns incubating the eggs and it is 

 said that if the one on the nest desires to leave, it will call its mate and 

 remain in the hole until the other comes. 



The food of the Pileated Woodpecker is composed largely of insect 



life. It is very fond of grubs, wood-boring beetles and ants, especially 



those species that make their homes in dead wood. 



To procure this food the Woodpecker has devel- 



Woodcutter / , , , .,, T M1 



opecl remarkable skill as a woodcutter. It will 



attack a dead tree or log and in half an hour will leave a pile of 

 chips of which a less ardent worker might well be proud. Often frag- 

 ments of wood as large as one's hand may be seen where the bird has 

 been at work, and I once measured a combination chip and splinter more 

 than fourteen inches in length. While engaged in this carpenter work, 



