Wayne: Birds of South Carolina. 91 



The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker breeds from Massachusetts to 

 Fort Simpson, and southward in the Alleghanies to North Car- 

 olina, where Mr. Brewster found it breeding. 



164. Phloeotomus pileatus (Linn.). Pileated Woodpecker. 



This fine species is abundant wherever the forest is of a prime- 

 val nature, but where the heavy growth has been cut away it is 

 seldom met with. Two or three pairs generally inhabit a certain 

 portion of a forest, where they remain to breed year after year in 

 the same locality. This species uses a certain hole, which it 

 excavates in a living black gum or a living sweet gum tree, in 

 which to sleep, and it is so attached to it that I have known one 

 of these birds to resort for years to the same hole to spend the 

 night. This sleeping hole is almost always excavated in a tree 

 which is hollow from the base to within a foot of the first limb. 

 Sometimes two holes are bored in the same tree, and if an attempt 

 is made to catch the bird, it can escape by going through either 

 of the holes or else make its exit at the base. 



If the season is a forward one the birds mate early in February 

 and towards the latter part of the month they begin to excavate 

 their hole, which requires exactly a month for completion. Dur- 

 ing the month of March, 1904, I made observations on a pair 

 which excavated their hole in a dead pine. On March 21, the 

 opening was commenced by the female, who drilled a small 

 hole, and by degrees enlarged it to the size of a silver dollar. The 

 male assisted in the excavation, but the female did by far the 

 larger part of the work. The size of the aperture was not in- 

 creased until necessary to admit the shoulders of the bird. I 

 visited these birds every day in order to note the progress of their 

 work, and, being so accustomed to seeing me, they were utterly 

 fearless and I could, at any time, approach within twenty feet 

 without hindering the work, although the hole was only about 

 thirty feet from the ground. This hole was completed on April 

 21, and the first egg was laid the following morning. As incuba- 

 tion commences upon the advent of the first egg, and as the 

 eggs are not laid consecutively, I did not again examine the con- 

 tents of the nest until April 26, when three eggs were found. 

 Upon investigating the cavity on April 28, and finding but 

 three eggs, I concluded that the set was complete and ab- 

 stracted it. In this case the excavation was made under a 



