WOODPECKERS 327 



in winter. Ossining, common T. V., Apl. 5-May 13; Sept. 18-Oct. 23; 

 casual in winter, Cambridge, not uncommon T. V., Apl. and Sept. 15 

 Nov. 1; occasional W. V. N. Ohio, common T. V., Apl. 1-May 20; Sept. 

 15-Oct. 20. Glen Ellyn, common T. V., Mch. 31-May 12; Sept. 14-Oct. 

 13. SE. Minn., common S. R., Mch. 25-Oct. 19. 



Nest, about 40 feet up. Eggs, 5-7, '87 x '67. Date, Trenton Falls, N. Y., 

 May 26; Goodrich, Mich., May 20; se. Minn., May 13. 



As migrants, Sapsuckers are rather inconspicuous. They frequent 

 living trees, where they are concealed by the foliage and their weak 

 call-note is not likely to attract attention. 



On reaching their summer homes in the spring their character 

 changes, and Merriam speaks of them as "noisy, rollicking fellows; 

 they are always chasing one another among the trees, screaming mean- 

 while at the tops of their voices" (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, IV, 1879, p. 2). 

 Brewster describes the note of the adults at this season as "a clear, 

 ringing cleur, repeated five or six times in succession;' 7 while young and 

 old utter "a low, snarling cry that bears no very distant resemblance to 

 the mew of the Catbird" (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1876, p. 69). 



The Sapsucker feeds largely on the juices of trees, which it obtains 

 by perforating the bark. (Bolles, Auk,VIll, 1891, p. 256; IX, 1892, p. 110.) 



405. Phloeotomus pileatus pileatus (Linn.). PILEATED WOOD- 

 PECKER. Ad. d". Upperparts blackish fuscous ; whole top of the head scarlet, 

 the feathers lengthened to form a crest; a narrow white stripe bordering 

 this crest separates it from the fuscous ear-coverts ; a stripe beginning at the 

 nostril and passing down the sides of the neck to the shoulders is tinged with 



FIG. 93 Tip of tongue of Pileated Woodpecker, showing barbed, 

 horny tip. (Much enlarged.) 



yellow before the eye and is white back of the eye; it is separated from the 

 white throat by a scarlet stripe at the base of the lower mandible; basal 

 half of the wing-feathers white; underparts fuscous, the feathers sometimes 

 lightly margined with white; bill horn-color. Ad. 9, Similar, but without 

 red on the forepart of the crown or at the base of the lower mandible. L., 

 17-00; W., 8'90; T., 6'20; B., 1'85. 



Range. Austroriparian forests from N. C., s. and w. to middle Tex., and 

 v. Okla.; casual in the Bahamas. 



Nesting date, San Mateo, Fla., Apl. 14. 



This species is common only in the wilder parts of its range. In 

 the hummocks and cypress swamps of Florida it occurs in numbers. 

 There, contrary to the experience of Audubon, I found it by no means 

 a wild bird. Indeed, Flickers were more difficult to approach. On 

 the Suwanee River, in March, and in Maine, in June, I have called these 

 birds to me by simply clapping my slightly closed palms, making a 

 sound in imitation of their tapping on a resonant limb. 



The flight of this species is rather slow, but usually direct, not 

 undulating, as in most Woodpeckers. When under way, the white 



