40 The Wilson Bulletin — Xo. 94 



In speaking of young turkeys, he says: *' They roll themselves 

 in deserted ants' nests to clear their growing feathers of loose 

 scales, and to prevent ticks and other vermin from attacking 

 them, these insects being unable to bear the odor of earth in 

 which ants have been." 



Here seems to be ground for my theory, only that the purpose 

 of the Indigo Bunting was to put earth, not ants, among its feath- 

 ers to rid itself of vermin. I remember that the bird, in filling 

 its beak, seemed not to be particular as to where it struck the 

 ground, only so that it got a mouthful. 



Others may have seen birds do the same thing. If so, I have 

 failed to see any record of it. 



L. B. CUSHMAN. 



North East, Pa. 



NORTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER IN ASHTABULA 

 COUNTY, OHIO. 



This year I spent a few days in October in Wayne Township, 

 Ashtabula County, Ohio. On the morning of the twenty-seventh 

 I heard a great commotion among the birds — Robins, Crackles, 

 Red-wings, Bluebirds, Cowbirds, and Sparrows — at one side of 

 a clearing in the woods, and made my way there to see what 

 caused the uproar. An Owl, I thought most likely. But lo! at 

 the edge of the woods, flying from tree to tree and only a few feet 

 above the ground, a pair of Northern Pileated Woodpeckers. But the 

 dead leaves' rustle betrayed me. The birds went deeper and deeper 

 into the woods and higher into the trees, till at last I abandoned 

 pursuit. I have spent many hours in the woods of this locality 

 in the past ten years, but have never before seen nor heard these 

 Woodpeckers, though they have been reported from Jefferson a few 

 miles away. 



It was while listening to the calls of the Woodpeckers, as I 

 leaned over the fence by the " sugar-house," that I became aware 

 of a fine female Grouse in a small apple tree near by. It seemed 

 such a friendly bird, though the fence crashed down as I went 

 over, not twenty feet away. A faint, rather hen-like clucking of 

 protest and I stood right under her perch. It was the buds of the 

 tree she sought, clambering through the smaller branches, and 1 

 left her undisturbed. 



In September a Sandhill Crane was seen in the pasture by the 

 creek. 



Harry J. Ginther. 

 Cleveland. Ohio. 



