74 



THE OOLOGIST ^^C-^}, ^'^^'» 



tentions, I cannot speak very kindly 

 of him. His coloring is black and 

 white, with a red patch on the head 

 and under the throat surrounded by 

 black, from which start the yellow 

 markings for the under parts of his 

 brilliant dress. He is not common, 

 and is found in deep woods when 

 sought. I have never seen more than 

 a single bird at one time among the 

 trees. 



This article was clipped from my 

 home paper and I thought possibly it 

 might be of interest. I think it has 

 been written by some rural resident. 

 I am wondering if any of the Wood- 

 pecker family really do destroy trees. 

 We have several evergreen trees that 

 have been bored clear around in differ- 

 ent places, but with no injury to the 

 trees. 



We have two cedar trees that are 

 literally stripped of their bark by the 

 English Sparrows. I have watched 

 the sparrows take an end of the bark 

 and pull this loose, sometimes eight 

 inches long, and carry it away. They 

 seem to delight in peeling these trees 

 all the year round. I think they will 

 be the cause of these two cedars dy- 

 ing, as they do not seem as thrifty as 

 before. 



I am interested in any information 

 regarding the Woodpecker as a tree 

 destroyer. I have not found him 

 guilty myself. 



O. M. Greenwood, 

 Manchester, la. 



Hairy Woodpecker. 



Early in April, 1903, while walking 

 through an apple orchard three miles 

 Avest of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, I 

 found a newly built nest of the 

 Hairy Woodpecker, seven feet above 

 the ground, on the under side of a 

 good sized slanting limb of an apple 

 tree. 



A slight rap on the tree with my 

 hand caused the female bird to fly 

 out. Supposing it to be too early for 

 eggs, I left it and returned April 18th 

 and made an opening below the en- 

 trance. It contained three fresh eggs, 

 resting on a little dry grass, which 

 probably had been placed there by a 

 blue bird. As there were only three 

 eggs, the part torn out was patched 

 up in hope that another egg would be 

 laid. Returning April 20 I found the 

 patch torn away from the cavity and 

 the eggs gone. 



A week or so later another cavity, 

 just started, was noticed nine feet 

 above the ground in a partly dead, up- 

 right limb, of an apple tree standing 

 only about thirty feet from the tree 

 in which the first nest was found. 



On May 2, a hole large enough to 

 admit my hand was cut below the en- 

 trance hole, and the female lifted from 

 four slightly incubated eggs, which 

 were almost buried in fine chips. 



In 1904 I hunted in the orchard for 

 a nest but found none. 



On May 22 a nest containing young 

 was found two miles northwest of 

 town. It was about twenty-five feet 

 up in the live trunk of a Yellow-locust 

 tree, a short distance below a woods. 



On April 30, 1905, a nest containing 

 young was found six feet up in the 

 dead stump of an apple tree limb, in 

 the same orchard in which the first 

 nest was found. 



April 28, 1906, I saw a Woodpecker 

 fly from a new cavity, seven feet 

 above the ground, in the partly dead 

 trunk of a small box elder tree, which 

 grew on the bank of a creek, close to 

 a public road and opposite the base of 

 a steep wooded hillside. May 5th the 

 cavity was opened, and the male bird 

 lifted from three fresh eggs, which 

 rested on fine chips April 29th as I 

 was walking by a partly dead pignut 



