104 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



nestino- in the large yellow birch, and once found one late in the fall at work 

 inside the tree, as I have often seen other species of Woodpeckers do in the 

 fall ; but whether working on next year's nest or providing a winter's retreat is 

 unknown to me. Its food consists very largely of ants. In some cases it 

 descends to the ground to obtain them, after the manner of the Flicker. I have 

 seen them in Yoseraite Valley and Calaveras Grove, California, and their actions 

 and notes seemed exactly the same as in Maine birds. 



"I once saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk persecute a pair of these Woodpeckers 

 most persistently. They spent considerable of their time on some dead 

 hemlocks close to my camp, and while busily at work the little Hawk would 

 dart at one and follow him with his legs stretched out as if to seize him, all the 

 time uttering a 'ca-ca-ca' to scare him. When the Woodpecker alighted and 

 faced him from behind a tree, the former would also alight close by on some 

 convenient limb, ready to repeat the performance as soon as the other commenced 

 to work again. Sometimes the Woodpecker, instead of flying, would sidle 

 around the body of the tree, and the Hawk would occasionally follow him 

 twice entirely around before alighting to take a rest, only to make a fiercer 

 dash next time. On some days this performance would be continued for at 

 least an hour at a time, and the Hawk seemed to put in all the time he could 

 spare from getting a living in annoying these birds. It was very evident, 

 however, that he dared not seize one, as he easily could have done had he 

 wished to do so. One would hardly think that a Pileated Woodpecker could 

 catch on the side of a tree, swing his body around, and present his bill to the 

 Hawk so quickly, but I saw this done dozens of times. The Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk reminded me of some people who never can bear to see others getting an 

 honest living. 



"The Pileated Woodpecker is a constant resident in Maine, but rarely leaves 

 the vicinity of large timber. It prefers places where large hemlocks abound, 

 especially those localities where a few have been killed by camp building or 

 small fires. In fall and winter a pair will regularly visit such trees every day 

 for weeks, spending hours daily in stripping off the bark, until trees from 2 to 3 

 feet in diameter are often entirely denuded or large patches of the bare wood 

 are exposed. In the spring I have often seen bushels of bark under a single 

 tree." 



Mr. R S.Williams, of Columbia Falls, Montana, writes me: ^^ Ceophlonis 

 pileatus is rather common all through the timber of the Upper Flathead River 

 region, in the northwestern part of the State. The bark of the western yellow 

 pine seems to offer attractive foraging for these birds. One tree I observed, 

 some 2 feet in diameter, is about stripped to the wood for 50 or 60 feet up. The 

 birds strike their blows sidewise, splitting the bark off in thin scales that soon 

 accumulate in large heaps at the base of the trees where they work. I ran 

 across one bird obtaining his meal in a rather novel manner. He was eating 

 the berries of a dogwood {Cornus stoloniferd), and as the stem of the shrub 

 was nmch too small for him to perch upright on, he allowed himself to swing 



