170 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



they alone deserve the name. In declaring war against woodpeckers, 

 the agriculturist will do well to discriminate between this somewhat 

 injurious and the highly beneficial species." My field observations, also 

 the post mortem examinations of some twenty odd Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 peckers (taken chiefly during the fall migrations), lead me to think that, 

 in this region, these birds subsist mainly on insects, such as beetles, 

 large flies, ants, spiders and larvae. In the viscera of specimens taken 

 in the late autumn and winter, I have found sometimes small seeds and 

 berries. In the stomachs of two birds which were shot in apple trees, I 

 detected a small amount of a vegetable substance, which may have been 

 inner bark. On one occasion I opened the stomach of an adult male, 

 taken in the spring, and noticed that it contained a considerable quan- 

 tity of fluid, of a yellowish color ; a drop of this fluid touched to my 

 tongue was found to be exceedingly sweet. 



GENUS CEOPHLOEUS CAB AXIS. 

 Ceophlceus pileatus (LiNN.)- 



Pileated Woodpecker. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 70). 



Bill blue-black, lower mandible much lighter in color than the upper; feet and 

 tarsi in dried specimens black ; iris yellowish ; general color of body, wings and tail 

 dull black ; a narrow white streak from just above the eye to occiput, a wider one 

 fronl the nostril feathers (inclusive) under the eye, and along the side of the head 

 and neck; side of the breast (concealed by the wing), axillaries, and under wing- 

 coverts, and concealed bases of all the quills, with chin and beneath the head, white, 

 tinged with sulphur-yellow ; entire crown, from the base of the bill to a well-devel- 

 oped occipital crest, as also a patch oil the ramus of the lower jaw, scarlet-red ; a few 

 white crescents 011 the sides of the body and on the abdomen. Female similar to 

 male, but without red on the cheek and only the back part of crest red. 



Length about 18 inches ; extent about 27 ; wing 9| inches. 



Habitat. Formerly whole wooded region of North America ; now rare or extir- 

 pated in the more thickly settled parts of the Eastern States. 



This bird, the largest of all our woodpeckers, is found in Pennsylva- 

 nia at all seasons, but occurs only in the wooded districts, and even in 

 most of these secluded localities it is not common. In April, 1885, I 

 found a nest of the Pileated Woodpecker in Orange county, Florida, 

 where this species is exceedingly numerous. It was made in a wild 

 cherry tree growing near the edge of an orange grove. The excavation, 

 about two feet, or a little less, in depth, was made in a dead limb. The 

 entrance to the nest was not over twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. 

 The glossy white eggs, quite small for the size of the bird, were re- 

 moved when three had been deposited on a few chips at the bottom of 

 the opening. As the mouth of the cavity had been somewhat broken 

 when they were taken out, I supposed the birds would desert the place, 

 but, about one week later I visited the tree and saw a Pileated Wood- 

 pecker, which I judge was the same bird that had been robbed by me, 



