148 THE OOLOGIST 
beds and almost impenetrable jungle. 
Where the fires have not swept over 
a second-growth forest of mostly hard- 
wood is replacing the original coni- 
ferous growth. 
With the destruction of the big 
woods the first bird to leave is the 
Raven followed by the Pileated. 
In this general region are still many 
small and a few large bodies of vir- 
gin forest still standing. One large 
tract near Warren is over five miles 
through one way and contains over 
10,000 acres. 
In the larger bodies of timber, the 
pileated is not hard to find. Their 
presence is to be seen in the shape 
of huge old hemlock stubs stripped of 
their bark from top to bottom. Large 
holes are cut into logs and fallen tim- 
ber in quest of ants and grubs. I 
have seen where they have dug holes 
from one to two feet long and three 
inches wide into the very heart of 
large and ant infested timber, and when 
such trees happen to be oak or chest 
nut, the work must take some time. 
They are great wanderers and roam 
over considerable territory. I often 
see them flying from one mountain to 
another and at considerable elevation. 
Their call is very much like a 
Flicker’s, only louder and more cackl- 
ing. This cackling is uttered when in 
flight, as well as when at rest. When 
at rest though the eall is usually given 
without interruptions between notes 
while during flight only two or three 
notes are given at a time. 
The Pileated is a wary bird and not 
easily approached and when followed 
up will usually take a long flight and 
leave the pursuer behind. It was not 
so difficult to get specimens of the 
bird itself but I soon discovered that 
to get eggs was a different propo- 
sition. 
IT could find no accounts of this wood- 
pecker breeding in this state so was 
at a loss to know at what date to 
expect eggs. I could find no woods- 
man who had ever seen a nest nor 
did I know in what sort of timber to 
search. 
As season after season passed I 
realized that the Pileated was grad- 
ually growing scarcer and the chances 
of finding a nest becoming less. 
During the seasons of 1908—1909 1 
made a hard search for the now much. 
coveted prize. I found it impossible 
to confine them to any one _ place 
owing to their wanderings and of 
course I could not thoroughly search 
over an extensive territory owing to 
the great amount of hemlock which 
shuts off the view. 
A person can spy on the movements 
of many birds and by watching and 
following around can often either find 
the nest or get a very good idea of 
where to look. Spying on the move- 
ments of the Pileateds I found 
wouldn’t work because they were too 
shy. 
About five miles from town along 
the river is a large tract of wild land 
that has always been a favorite hunt- 
ing and collecting ground with me. 
There is a large body of heavy timber 
there and in this woods Pileateds are 
always found. Horned and Barred 
Owls nest there and yearly several 
pairs of Red-shouldered Hawks nest 
near the river. 
Last spring early while looking up 
the hawks and owls I saw an unusual 
amount of signs of the Pileateds near 
a thick swamp of hemlock and laurel. 
I remembered that I almost always 
saw or heard them near this swamp 
whenever I went that way, so while 
gathering in the raptores, I kept a 
sharp lookout for a promising looking 
hole for pileatus, Not until the first 
of May did I see anything in that line. 
