THE OOLOGIST 149 
Then I found three large good looking 
holes in as many stubs and from the 
quantity of chips on the ground I 
knew these excavations were deep. I 
didn’t have much hope as I was 
afraid it was too late in the season, 
but May 16th a friend and myself 
spent part of the day in that region. 
Just before reaching the Pileateds 
home I looked at a large hawk’s nest 
in a tree near a pond in the deep 
woods and flushed a Cooper’s Hawk. 
A climb rewarded me by a nice fresh 
set of five. 
At the first stub a jar from a heavy 
rock started a black squirrel who made 
a flying leap and disappeared into a 
hemlock. At the second and _ best- 
looking stub we found a family of fly- 
ing squirrels at home. This was dis- 
couraging but we went to the third 
and largest stub. 
A couple of thumps and out came a 
scarlet-crested head. It took con- 
siderable pounding to make her leave. 
As we stood there sizing up the tree 
she came back and alighted directly 
under the opening, but changed her 
notion about entering and flew off into 
the swamp. During the time we were 
there she stayed. nearby and fre- 
quently cackled but we saw nothing 
of the male, The tree was an oak 
three feet through and broken off 
forty-five feet from the ground. Only 
one side of the tree was alive and 
twenty-five feet from the ground this 
living wood branched off into a large 
limb a foot through. -The rest of the 
stub was bare and dead and very 
punky and soft. This big limb left 
the stub at right angles, then turned 
and grew straight up and about four 
feet from the stub itself. The green 
wocd bulged out from the stub and by 
hanging to this bulge I managed to 
drag myself up to the limb. I then 
climbed up even with the hole which 
was On the opposite side. 
With a heavy knife I soon cut 
through into the excavation and re- 
moved the four crystal-white beauties 
at the bottom. The opening to the 
nest was four inches in diameter and 
not perfectly round. The excavation 
was twenty inches deep and ten in 
diameter making quite a large roomy 
nest. The eggs were deposited on a 
few fine chips. They measure 1.50 x 
1.06, 1.05 x 1.00, 1.50 x 1.06, and 1.45 
x 1.06. Incubation 1-2. 
Being such a large and conspicuous 
bird the Pileated is never spared 
when it gets in range of gunners and 
this is the principal cause of its de- 
crease. I once shot a Sharp-shinned 
Hawk that was making a desperate 
attempt to catch a Pileated, and hawks 
no doubt get one sometimes. A year 
or two ago in summer along a trout 
stream in virgin forest back in the 
mountains, I came to a mossy spot 
where a pileated had been wrecked 
and a close inspection showed the 
tracks of a huge wildeat who had no 
doubt caught the big woodpecker on 
the ground or on a log, Last fall 
very close to this spot I trapped one 
of the largest and finest Bay Lynx I 
ever saw and hope I got the culprit 
who made away with one of my 
Pileateds. 
At present I know of several pairs 
nearby, but the bird is undoubtedly 
growing scarcer. 
R. B. Simpson. 
aS SRS, 
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