THE OOLOGIST. 



13 



A Colony of Woodpeckers 



Near to the edge of the great Potter 

 tswarup ia Yates County there is an 

 area of about one acre covered with a 

 •dense growth of cattails and swamp 

 grass and grown up mostly with ash 

 trees many of which are now dead 

 stubs broken off at various heights thus 

 making a typical place for the family 

 'oi Ficidce. to breed. 



On May 19, 1895, accompanied by Mr. 

 Verdi Burtch I visited this place and 

 after about three hours' observation we 

 found that of the seven species of 

 Woodpeckers indigenous to Western 

 New York five were breeding in this 

 «mall area; therefore we have dubbed it 

 '" Woodpecker Colony." 



Flicker, Golaptes aurates.. This fa- 

 ■miliar"Yeller-hammers' " loud and rol- 

 :licking notes were apparently in all di- 

 rections and were the first to attract 

 our attention. Two nest holes were 

 found and I took a set of 9, fresh to 

 slightly incubated eggs from a cavity 

 15 feet up in a large bumpy old stub. 

 This gnarled bumpy stub seemed to be 

 a favorite one for cavity breeders to 

 select, for two feet above the Flickers' 

 hole was another occupied by a pair of 

 Bluebirds whose home I did not dis- 

 turb. Also on May 24, 1896, Mr. Burtch 

 took a tine set of 4 eggs of the Ameri- 

 can Sparrow Hawk from an old cavity 

 30 feet up in the extreme top. 



Red-he ADEU Woodpeckek, Melan- 

 erpes erythrocephalus. This tri-colored 

 Woodpecker — whose querulous notes 

 remind one of - a tree frog— was to be 

 seen -dashing from tree to tree and we 

 found one nest hole in the dead top of a 

 beech tree and 25 feet from the ground. 

 The cavity was 15 inches deep by 6 in 

 diameter. The set of 5 eggs were fresh 

 and one was a runt. I took another 

 set from an old dead cherry ti'ee 20 feet 

 up and in a cavity 12 inches deep by 5 

 in diameter at the top while the bottom 

 was considerably larger. The set of 5 



fresh eggs were laid on fine bits of rot- 

 ten wood. 



Downy Woodpecker, Bryobates pub- 

 escens. But one pair of this social lit- 

 tle Woodpecker were found breeding in 

 1895 and as Mr. Burtch collected the 

 set I haven't full data. But on May 10, 

 1896, I took a set of five eggs from a 

 smoothly chiseled hole 20 feet up in a 

 small ash tree— it was 8 inches deep 

 and the opening so small that Downy 

 had to squeeze in order to get in and 

 out. I had previously, on May 3, dug 

 a small hole into the bottom of this 

 nest hole but as only one egg had been 

 laid I jabbed a small limb into 

 the hole I had made and Mrs. Downy 

 completed the set. Again on May 24 I 

 took a set of live fresh eggs from a cav- 

 ity 20 feet up in a live ash tree, prob- 

 ably the second set of this pair. 



Hairy Woodpecker, Bryobates vil- 

 losus. We found two pairs breeding. 

 Spying a rather large cavity in a live 

 ash tree I approached and gave it a 

 vigorous whack, and the effect was 

 truly astonishing, for out of the bowels 

 of that tree came the most unearthly 

 shrieks and screams I ever heard. I 

 amused myself for several minutes and 

 as soon as the last shriek died away I 

 would give them a hearty "encore" 

 and they would sing the next verse. 

 Davie says that Hairy lays four eggs,; 

 rarely tive, but judging from the 

 sounds within there must have been at 

 least a dozen. Both of these cavities 

 were in solid ash trees and 15 feet up. 



Yellow->bellied Woodpecker, 



Sphyrapicus varius. Mr. Burtch found 

 a nest hole of this unsuspicious Sap- 

 sucker in a partially dead ash. Mrs. 

 Sapsucker came promptly to the en- 

 trance on hearing raps without and as 

 Mr. Burtch climbed to the cavity she 

 ran up and down the tree near the hole 

 in a nervous manner but soon flew to a 

 near by tree while he dug into the nest, 

 but alas! we were too early for no eggs 

 had been laid. Hopefully we visited 



