THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKEE. 87 



While in the woods one morning-, seated against the trunlc* of a maple, 

 observing the movements of a Winter Wren and her brood, a male Yellow- 

 bellied Sapsucker suddenly flew down from a neighboring tree and alighted 

 on the side of the one on Avhich I was leaning, within a foot of my head. He 

 startled me not a little, and no doubt he was equally astonished, as he remained 

 only about a minute, and, uttering a sharp note, like "huw}^," beat a hasty 

 retreat. Its favorite resorts during the breeding season are deciduous and 

 mixed woods, generally close to water, in river bottoms, along the shores of 

 the nunierous lakes and the borders of swamps, while it is much less frequently 

 seen at this season of the year in extensive coniferous forests. 



In the more southern portions of its breeding range nidification usually 

 commences about the beginning of May, and somewhat later farther north. It 

 takes about a week or ten days to complete the excavation for a nesting site, 

 which is usually gourd-shaped, varying from 6 to 18 inches in depth. The 

 entrance hole is perfectly circular, about 1^ inches in diameter, and just large 

 enough to admit the bird ; the sides of the excavation are smooth, and a layer 

 of fine chips is left in the bottom of the hole, on which the eggs are deposited. 

 The sexes relieve each other in this ^\'ork, and also share the duties of incuba- 

 tion. Several other fresh holes are usually excavated in the same tree, pre- 

 sumably by the male, to which he probably retires to rest during the night, and 

 to guard his mate from possible danger. 



Fresh eggs may be looked for during the latter half of May and the first 

 week in June, and from five to seven are laid to a set, those containing five or 

 six eggs being most common. An egg is deposited daily, and should the first 

 chitch be taken, a. second, usually containing four eggs, is laid about two weeks 

 later, frequently in an excavation in the same tree. They are devoted parents 

 and when incubation is somewhat advanced, or the young have been recently 

 hatched, the bird on the nest is loath to leave it, and will sometimes allow itself 

 to be captured rather than to desert its treasures. The one ofi" duty may also 

 frequently be seen clinging just below the hole, and remaining in this position 

 perfectly motionless for several minutes at a time, as if in a deep study. The 

 eggs, like those of all Woodpeckers, are pure white in color, the shell is close- 

 grained and only moderately glossy ; in shape they vary from ovate to elliptical 

 ovate, and occasionally to an elliptical oval. 



The average measurement of seventeen eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 22.23 by 17.06 millimetres, or about 0.88 by 0.67 inch. 

 The largest egg measures 23.37 by 17.53 millimetres, or 0.92 by 0.69 inch; the 

 smallest, 20.57 by 16.26 milUmetres, or 0.81 by 0.64 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 24726 (not figured), from a set of six eggs, was 

 taken by Dr. William L. Ralph, near Trenton Falls, Herkimer County, New 

 York, on May 28, 1886, from a cavity in a rotten limb of an elm tree standing 

 in an open field.^ 



' For further information ou this species, I refer the reader to Mr. William Brewster's interesting article 

 in the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. I, 1876, pp. 63-70; also, to one by Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam, published in the same Bulletin, Vol. IV, 1870, pp. 1-6; and to the careful observations made by the 

 late Mr. Frank BoUes, published in the Auk, ■\-ol. VIII, 1891, pp. 256-70, and Vol. IX, 1892, pp. 109-119. 



