50 
NESTS AND EGGS OE 
The young, when first hatched, are very helpless creatures, and require 
the greatest care and attention from parental hands, so to speak. Cater- 
pillars, small moths, aphides and beetles constitute the bulk of their fare, 
from the time they leave the egg until they are four weeks old, when 
they quit the nest, to be instructed in the ways of the outside world. For 
a fortnight the young birds rove in company, but finally separate, each 
bird leading the life of a recluse. 
The eggs of this species are nearly spherical, of a crystalline white- 
ness, and measure .82 of an inch in length, and .71 in width. Specimens 
from Eastern Texas and Southern Michigan differ but little, if any, from 
others obtainable in New England and the Middle sections of our country. 
In the Plate the eggs are shown in position, the ,Avood being cut away over 
tbe bottom of the chamber, to produce this result. The egg in front, as 
well as the birds upon the branch, are three-fourths of the natural size. 
The remaining eggs are in part concealed, and do not show so fully. In 
the southern and middle portions of the range of this Woodpecker, two 
broods are annually raised, one in June, and the other in August, but 
further north seldom more than one. 
