116 



THE OOLOGIST. 



with their melancholy wrecks, but the 

 great trunks stood in sordid ruin until 

 trumpet vines and Virginia creepers 

 clambered over them, hiding their dull 

 decay, and the spot which man had de- 

 solated became once more a scene of 

 beauty. 



The place was again verdant with 

 glassy foliage and gay with gaudy flow- 

 ers but there was something ghastly 

 and depressing in the close union of life 

 and death — of mouldering ruin and 

 luxuriant growth, and the place was 

 shunned by the many parties of recrea- 

 tion hunters that frequented the neigh- 

 boring wood. This deadening, then, 

 became a place where I could study 

 without fear of interruption, and could 

 watch the birds and insects without 

 calling forth the pitying glance of the 

 brute herd. 



The song birds that had frequented 

 the place in its happier days were gone, 

 never to return except on hurried vis- 

 its, but loss in one direction is often 

 gain in another and the ruined trees 

 still swarmed with bird life. The 

 loosened bark and decaying trunks hid 

 myriads of larva?, grubs and insects and 

 afforded rich feasts to countless Wood- 

 peckers. All day the place rung with 

 the brisk drumming of beaks on soft 

 and rotting wood or on timber seasoned 

 almost to the hardness of iron, and the 

 harsh love notes and the discordant 

 war cries of the restless drummer took 

 the place of music. 



The Hairy Woodpeckers were among 

 the most numerous of these birds and 

 their quick movements and continual 

 activity made them appear more num- 

 erous still. Emboldened by the secur- 

 ity which their small size and rapid 

 movements gave them they cared little 

 who -watched' them and would drum 

 away close to the observer's head, and 

 when some motion was made which 

 they construed into a threat they would 

 simply shift around to the other side of 

 a limb or tree trunk and resume their 



labors, taking to flight only when it 

 suited their convenience. 



They appeared to be constant resi- 

 dents but 1 noticed with surprise that 

 they were the least numerous at the 

 season when I would have expected to 

 And them most abundant, in the sum- 

 mer, and I inferred that many of thertt 

 went farther north to breed. Still 

 some of them were always with us and 

 I occasionly found their nests. 



They nested early, the earliest, I 

 thought of all the Woodpeckers, and 

 allowed themselves considerable range 

 in the variety of their nesting sites and 

 the style of their architecture. Some- 

 times I would trace a pair to their 

 home in a forlorn snag and after a hard 

 climb would find that the nest hole 

 penetrated the wood to a depth of at 

 least eighteen inches, and that the eggs 

 were completely hidden by the depth 

 of the narrow cavity and could not be 

 seen without considerable chopping — 

 something not to be thought of. At 

 other times I would find a nest in a cav- 

 ity less than five inches in depth, and 

 then I could get a satisfactory look at 

 the eggs. These were four or five in 

 number with shells of a beautiful clear 

 white color, and so smooth, thin and 

 transparent that their contents gave 

 them a charming rosy tinge. 



The birds were affected with a chron- 

 ic abnormal industry, yet I once found 

 the nest of a tired pair. There were 

 several decaying posts standing in the 

 grove, relics of a former partition fence, 

 and in one of these there were holes 

 which had once accomodated the draw 

 bars. A pair of Hairys took possession 

 of one of these holes and after sinking 

 it two or three inches deeper made 

 their nest in it. an evidence of their 

 lack of industry but a great conven- 

 ience to me for it gave me an excellent 

 opportunity to watch them feed their 

 young. 



There appeared to be several varie- 

 ties of Hairy Woodpeckers, dififeriug 



