286 



THE OOLOGIST 



using a small mirror placed in the en- 

 trance to find out when a full set was 

 laid, I could never make it work, due 

 I suppose to the fact that there is not 

 light enough in the inside to see the 

 bottom. Now you can see the advant- 

 age of my method as in case the eggs 

 have not been laid I fit a piece of soft 

 wood into the hole and replace the 

 piece of wood split off from the out- 

 side; this may be fastened with wood- 

 en wedges, driven into the saw cuts, 

 or nails may be used to hold it in 

 place. I prefer the former because 

 the piece of wood is easier to remove 

 when visiting the nest the next time. 

 If the work is well done only the saw 

 cuts will show from the outside and 

 even these may be filled with bark. 

 The Woodpeckers did not leave the 

 nest but layed the set, and this I ob- 

 tained by visiting the nest later on. I 

 have even collected three sets from 

 one nest in this manner though it is 

 probably better to let the second set 

 hatch. These birds occasionally nest 

 in white birch trees which are part- 

 ly decayed. In this case, the bark may 

 be cut on the side of the tree back of 

 the entrance and peeled off around 

 under the hole. Then the chisel may 

 be used to cut into the nest as in the 

 case of the poplar tree. If there are 

 no eggs the hole may be stopped up 

 and the bark drawn back where it 

 can be held in place with small tacks. 

 This makes a very neat job and one 

 would hardly know that the nest had 

 been disturbed if ithey were looking 

 at it from the outside. 



How an adaption of this method to 

 fit special cases may be used with 

 other kinds of Woodpeckers that build 

 in partly dead limbs and stubs, may 

 be seen from the following case: 



I once found the nest of a hairy 

 Woodpecker in the dead limb of an 

 apple tree not far from our buildings. 

 The entrance was in a perpendicular 



limb which made a bend just above 

 so that it was nearly horizontal. By 

 boring a hole with a two inch auger 

 through the top side I could see into 

 the nest. As only two eggs were laid 

 I put a plug into the hole and a little 

 later collected a fine set of four eggs 

 by using the scoop net. I replaced the 

 plug and about two weeks later took 

 another set of four. Another set of 

 three were taken from this still later, 

 making three sets of fresh eggs taken 

 from this nest. This method enables 

 the collector to obtain nearly all the 

 eggs when fresh, thus making the 

 most desirable specimens for one's 

 collection. 



The Red-bellied Nuthatch often 

 builds its nest in stubs that are so de- 

 cayed that it is unsafe to attempt to 

 climb them. I once found a nest of 

 this interesting little bird in a poplar 

 stub about thirty feet from the ground. 

 As the stub would shake with the 

 touch of my hand, climbing it was out 

 of the question. It happened, however 

 that there was a tree with a good 

 strong limb only a short distance 

 away, so that when I next visited the 

 nest I brought a piece of small rope 

 and I climbed the tree growing near 

 and from there I was able to throw 

 the rope over the end of the stub. By 

 pulling carefully I drew the stub near 

 enough so I could reach it. I soon cut 

 through the sofe wood with a chisel 

 and found a handsome set of seven 

 eggs resting in a nest of fine bark 

 strips and other soft material. This 

 bird usually digs a hole in some dead 

 stub from ten to twenty-five feet from 

 the ground. The hole is lined with 

 fine strips of bark from the poplar 

 and cedar trees. As I have found it 

 impossible to tell when a full set was 

 laid I have used the same method as 

 in the case of the Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker and have been successful in 

 nearly every case. 



