20 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



May. With their stout chisel-like bill they can bore into a tree with 

 astonishing rapidity. They are quite cunning, especially the older 

 birds that have learned by experience that they can not take too much 

 pains to conceal the whereabouts of the nest. As they dig into the 

 tree, they will carefully remove the chips to a distance before dropping 

 them. It is only in the case of an unwise young bird, when you can 

 find evidence of the boring by chips surrouncing hhe tree in which the 

 nest is. The opening to the nest is three to six inches in diameter 

 and the cavity is often made over two feet in depth. They generally 

 leave a layer of chips to line the bottom of the cavity. The eggs are 

 hatched in about three weeks and the young leave the nest in about 

 the same length of time after. 



A great many hunters who go to the Maine woods bring home one 

 or more of these woodpeckers, not because they are of any use but be- 

 cause they are impressed by their size. They are very commonly 

 known as "Logcock" or Crow Woodpecker. Their flight is generally 

 somewhat slow and heavy like that of the Crow showing only a little 

 of the undulation common to the Woodpeckers. They make very con- 

 spicuous objects when in flight, owing to the alternate flashing of 

 white and black as their wings rise and fall, exposing the white under 

 surfaces- 



They feed largely on woodboring insects which they chisel out of the 

 trees; their diet is also supplemented with ants and berries which they 

 descend to the ground to get. It is said that they often feed on insects 

 from under the bark of trees, by hammering in the crevices in a slant- 

 ing direction and forcing large pieces of the bark off. A large portion 

 of some trees, mostly decayed ones, are largely denuded of the cover- 

 ing by these birds in their quest for food. Its principal notes are not 

 unlike those of the common flicker only slower and much louder. 



