COLAPTES AURATUS. 233 



a substitute for a song, i* given. This rude lay which consists of a series of notes uttered 

 with increasing rapidity, terminating: abruptly, is so harsh as to be somewhat disagreeable 

 when heard near at hand but, mellowed by distance and mingled with the carol of the Song 

 Sparrow, the warble of the Blue Bird, the piping of the hylas in the meadows, and other 

 .-muds so characteristic of the opening spring-time, it is far from unpleasant. A little later 

 in the season, the notes, sounding like the syllables, yu-ca, uttered in a peculiar manner, 

 announces that the breeding season is approaching. 



Small companies may lie seen, pursuing one another about the trunks of trees or a- 

 mong the branches, dodging about, now under, now over, the limbs, or dashing through 

 the air, onlv to alight on the next tree, where they will resume their sportive antics. These 

 evolutions are performed with ease, for the Golden-wings glide along the branches smooth- 

 ly, usually without the jerking motion of the head, observable in many other members of 

 the family; and withal, they are exceedingly agile, all their movements being performed 

 with marvelous rapidity. 



About the first of May, the Golden-winged Woodpeckers begin to excavate the holes 

 for their nests. They almost always select a dead trunk or limb for this purpose but will 

 occasionally choose a living tree. The labor of drilling is performed quite expeditiously, 

 both sexes being employed. The bits of wood removed are conveyed to a distance or scat- 

 tered over the ground near the base of the tree which contains the nest; but it is noticeable 

 that when the hole is b"ing made in wood which is quite solid, the chips are carried to a 

 greater distance than when the task is performed upon a partly decayed tree. Thus I found 

 a newly finished nest, only a few days ago, which was built in an old apple-tree, the wood 

 of which was so punky that it crumbled in my hand, and the ground about the base of the 

 trunk was fairly whitened with the chips. 



It is wonderful to observe with what ease these Woodpeckers penetrate hard, dry 

 wood. I once kept a Golden-winged Woodpecker in a cage which was only wired on one 

 side. After remaining quietly in confinement for a day or two, the bird began, one morn- 

 ing, to drill in the board which formed the side of his prison and, in an incredible short 

 space of time, had formed a hole of sufficient size to enable him to escape into the room. 

 I closed the hole by nailing a piece of wood over it and then replaced the bird,but he 

 promptly commenced operations in the same place, quickly emerging again on the outer 

 side. I noticed that the wood upon which he was working was saturated with moisture 

 thai u-as evidently saliva secreted by glands which lie along the sides of the lower mandi- 

 ble. I do not understand why the bird wet the wood for it must tend to toughten it, es- 

 pecially if it were pine or spruce; yet it might have a different effect upon the dead limbs 

 of trees. 



The bird of which I have been speaking, became quite tame, after a short time and, 

 although I allowed him the liberty of the room, he would always go into the box to eat or 

 roost. The door of his cage generally stood open, yet he would almost always avail him- 

 self of the hole which he had made as a place of entrance and exit. It is observable that 

 when these birds wish to enter a barn, which they do quite frequently, especially in win- 

 ter, they will always do so by a hole of their own excavating and, when surprised in their 



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