THE NtDlOLOmsT. 



NESTING OF NUFTALLS WOOD- 

 PECKER. 



Nuttall's Woodpecker always recalls to 

 me the charms of manj^ pleasurable days 

 spent ill collecting eggs along the Pajaro 

 river and in the pretty, rolling country 

 about Sargents, Cal. My acquaintance with 

 Nuttall's Woodpecker is limited to the re- 

 gion above mentioned, where the birds seem 

 to find favorable conditions and are quite 

 numerous. As far as my observations go, 

 Gairdner's Woodpecker is distributed much 

 more generally in California than Nuttall's. 

 Twenty-five miles south of Sargents, near 

 Paicenos, San Benito county, seems to be a 

 chosen home for IvCwis' Woodpecker, just 

 as the Nuttall's have shown their good 

 taste by settling, on the Pajaro river. 



'it's-::,- 



The Home of Nuttah's Woodpecker. 



Nuttall's Woodpecker begins, as a rule, 

 to construct its nest in some dead stump 

 about the 20th of April, and sets of eggs 

 may be taken about the ist of May. On 

 May 3rd of this year I took five fresh eggs 

 of this bird from the upper hole of the two 

 shown in the low stump pictured in the 



illustration — a sketch on the spot, by Mr. 

 Nahl. This, I have found, is the usual 

 number to a full set. The bird was setting 

 on her eggs, and although she fluttered up 

 as far as the entrance after repeated knock- 

 ings, it was some time before I could dis- 

 lodge her. The lower hole seemed to be 

 an old one. A sound acorn had been lately 

 put into it, doubtless by the Woodpecker 

 for future reference. H. R. T. 



WILD CAT AND FALCON. 



A letter from Will Burres, at Sargents, 

 Cal. , tells of the following exciting experi- 

 ence with a wild cat while climbing a clifF 

 for the eggs of the Prairie Falcon : 



' ' I was climbing up to a hole in the cliff 

 near the P'alcon's ledge, where I thought 

 there might be a Turkey Buzzard's nest. 

 When I had climbed nearly up to the hole 

 a large wild cat looked out of it. Her eyes 

 fairly shone, and I thought she was going 

 to jump down on me. 



" I tried to scare the beast back again, 

 but she didn't scare worth a cent. I backed 

 off down the hill, and she jumped out and 

 ran away. I thought she might have kit- 

 tens in there but was afraid to go up to the 

 place again without weapons. 



' ' The wild cat had come from a small 

 cave by the ledge. A Prairie Falcon flew out 

 from the same ledge the cat was on and I 

 was sure it had a nest there. 



' ' I made another trip to get the eggs the 

 next day. The Falcon did not fly off", and 

 when I got up to the ledge I found only the 

 broken shells. The cat had evidently taken 

 them — for the good part, not the shells. 



' ' Judging from the pieces of egg-shells 

 it had been a large set. There was no 

 nest, only a place scooped out in the dirt. 



"I wanted revenge, so I made a special 

 trip for the cat. This time I had the gun 

 along. She climbed up the rocks when 

 she saw me and got into the brush, so I did 

 not get a shot at her. I climbed up to the 

 hole and found three small wild kittens. I 

 got them out and took them home and am 

 going to try to raise them." 



