Notes from Field and Study 



351 



escape death that otherwise would also be 

 sacrificed. — Fred. J. Pierce, Winthrop, 

 Iowa. 



A Colony of Three-Toed Woodpeckers 



During most of September and October, 

 191 7, I cruised e.xhaustively the area 

 bounded by Hall's stream on the west, 

 the international boundary on the north, 

 the Maine state-line on the east, and the 

 parallel of 45 degrees north latitude on the 

 south. This tract has an area of, roughly, 

 344 square miles, and comprises the nor- 

 thern part of Coos County, N. H. 



For many years this region has been the 

 seat of lumbering operations, which thus 

 far have included only white pine, white 

 spruce, and fir balsam. Barring scattered 

 spruces and firs of merchantable size, there 

 were at that time comparatively few re- 

 maining conifers sufficiently large or 

 abundant to tempt the lumberman or 

 pulp-wood man. The whole tract is now 

 covered with a splendid growth of virgin 

 deciduous trees, mainly rock and red 

 maple, yellow birch, and white and brown 

 ash, with lesser amounts of black cherry 

 and canoe birch, forming parts of the 

 water-sheds of the Connecticut and 

 Androscoggin rivers. Upon the swampy 

 borders of the lakes, a thick mantle of 

 young balsam occurs, with a fringe of small 

 spruces along its outer edge. 



At the time of my visit, however, there 

 still remained on the middle branch of 

 Dead Diamond River, a tributary of the 

 Androscoggin, a single small area of virgin 

 forest containing abundant white spruces 

 and balsams, the former splendid, healthy 

 trees of large size, and the latter also large 

 but having many trees diseased or decayed 

 at the heart. 



During the first two weeks, every day 

 spent in the forest, I had kept a sharp 

 lookout, but a fruitless one, for the 

 American and Arctic Three-toed Wood- 

 peckers {Picoides americanus americanns 

 and P. arcticiis). It was not, however, till 

 I had just crossed the divide between the 

 Connecticut and Androscoggin rivers into 

 the water-shed of the latter stream that I 



encountered my first pair of the latter 

 species, hammering away near the tops of 

 tall spruces. Lower down, close to Mt. 

 Pisgah, a single adult male American 

 Three-toed Woodpecker was seen, a fear- 

 less bird feeding low (within 20 feet of the 

 ground) and flying restlessly from tree to 

 tree, and occasionally calling quietly. This 

 call was a single one, low-pitched and soft, 

 apparently uttered as the birds wandered 

 about feeding, to inform others nearby of 

 its presence, in the same manner that Red- 

 bellied Nuthatches call at intervals, as a 

 band ranges through its feeding-grounds 

 in winter. 



Still lower down, in the area of diseased 

 balsams, a pleasant surprise awaited me, 

 for here Three-toed Woodpeckers of both 

 species, sexes, and all recognizable ages, 

 were distinctly common — a colony, so to 

 speak, temporarily concentrated owing to 

 two factors: (i) The nearly complete 

 destruction in this region of the former 

 virgin forest of large conifers on which and 

 in which they fed and nested; and (2) the 

 presence of abundant food at this locality 

 in the diseased balsam trees. The birds 

 were industriously feeding and were 

 strangely silent. Both species occurred to- 

 gether and they seemed little disturbed by 

 my presence, or the fact that a gang of 

 lumber-jacks was noisily working, often 

 only one or two hundred feet away. No 

 doubt the birds had gradually become 

 accustomed to the presence of the men. 

 My notes do not refer to the relative fre- 

 quency of each species, but the impression 

 was not gained that one species was less 

 frequent than the other, though this might 

 well have been the case. My observations, 

 which were made merely as an incident in 

 connection with my work, were confined 

 to a very small area near a logging-camp. 

 Here some thirty Three-toed Woodpeckers 

 were seen. Others were encountered a 

 little further from camp, and it is probable 

 had the infected area been systematically 

 canvassed, many more birds would have 

 been found. 



As all these trees were expected to be 

 cut during 191 7 and 1918, no doubt these 

 birds today can find no virgin forest rem- 



