BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 233 
maple on which he had perched, in such a manner as to keep 
the tree between himself and the dog, which brought him suc- 
cessively into, and out of view, as the dog circled about us on 
the scent of grouse with his eyes and nose downward, in total 
forgetfulness of the woodpecker, which the latter did not fail 
to perceive. A finer study in natural history I never enjoyed, 
nor hope to, and it cost me a momentary severe struggle to 
draw trigger upon such a central figure in such a scene. 
In those days of sporting and collecting combined, I enjoyed 
repeated opportunities for hearing their hammerings, and their 
sonorous notes, that were distinct a mile away, when there was 
no undue disturbance by the wind. 
I never climbed to the hole in which the eggs are deposited, 
but I have utilized the climbing son of a farmer residing in the 
forest west of Minnetonka, who explored several for me from 
time to time. The hole is excavated out of the trunk of a dead, 
and partially decayed tree, and is usually about balf a yard in 
depth, much larger at the bottom than at the entrance, and 
contains no materials except the chips of the excavation to a 
limited amount. Onto these are deposited the five to six, clear, 
large white eggs, which are brought out by the alternate incu- 
bation of the two birds. This nest is first entered about the 
first to the tenth of April. 
The food of the Pileated Woodpeckers does not materially 
differ from that of other woodpeeckers. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest, third intermediate 
between the sixth and seventh; bill blue black; general color of 
body, wings and tail, dull greenish-black; a narrow white 
streak from just above the eye to the occiput, a wider one from 
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 under wing coverts, and concealed bases of all 
the quills, with chin, and beneath the head, white, tinged with 
sulphur yellow; entire crown, fromthe base of the bill to a well 
developed occipital crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the 
lower jaw, scarlet-red; a few white crescents on the sides of 
the body, and on the abdomen; iris very dark hazel. Female 
without the red on the cheek, and the anterior half of that on 
the-top of the head, replaced by black. 
Length, 18; wing, 9.50; tail, 7. 
Habitat, formerly the whole wooded region of North America; 
now rare in all and extirpated in many. 
