10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



The Yellow-billed Cuckoo occurs only sparingly in the 

 Pocono district. The Black-billed is much more numerous, 

 and is more frequently heard than seen. Unless it flies across 

 an open space, its slender form is hard to discover in the wealth 

 of foliage. Singing at night is a well-marked habit of this 

 species. 



The Belted Kingfisher plies his trade up and down the 

 streams and about the lakes in a manner too well known to 

 merit description. 



Of the woodpeckers, the Flicker is much the most abundant, 

 nesting in the usual manner. The Downy is not very numer- 

 ous : the Hairy rather more so. The work of the Pileated has 

 been seen several times, though the bird itself has not been 

 noted nearer than the forests of Pike County. 



The Yellow-beUied Sapsucker is the most interesting of the 

 family. Its curious, whining cry may be heard occasionally 

 in the woods and clearings. The nest-cavity is dug in dead 

 stubs, often in those which are standing in water. It may 

 be at any level from ten to sixty feet or more. Sometimes the 

 hole is made in stubs which are so rotten that excavation is 

 very simple and easy when once the hard exterior shell has 

 been pierced. The opening sometimes has the shape of a 

 rounded square. In other cases it appears as truly circular as 

 the doorways of Downy and Hairy. 



Close to one nest containing young, it was noted that the 

 birds had attacked a living sweet-birch tree. Instead of the 

 circular rows of small round holes, so often seen upon apple- 

 trees, they had made much more serious injuries. Square- 

 cornered holes as large as the end of one's finger, were dug side 

 by side over considerable areas, extending right around the 

 trunk. From these holes the aromatic juice was exuding. At- 

 tracted by this. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and certain insects 

 not distinguishable, at a distance, from houseflies, were moving 

 about. The value of this arrangement to the woodpeckers was 

 evident when the parent bird was seen to alight on the spot and 

 fill her beak with insects. Dropping down a few yards she 

 transferred them to the young. Surely this was a labor-saving 

 scheme of high merit. How few young birds are raised on 

 flies flavored with wintergreen ! 



