156 THE BIRDS 
In 1911 my attention was called to this bird breeding 
in our section by J. E. Gould, of Berkley, who informed 
me that while visiting an eagle’s nest the latter part of 
March, he had seen a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers at work 
excavating a nesting cavity in a live pine tree, some sixty 
feet up. I told him I thought he would find them to be 
Red-cockaded variety, and he now states them to be such. 
They had evidently been breeding in the same tree for 
two or three years previous, as old cavities could be 
clearly distinguished. On visiting the tree again. on 
April 19th, 1912, they were seen feeding young. The 
1910 A. O. U. Check List gives their range in Virginia 
as “southwestern Virginia.” These birds were breeding 
in Norfolk County, or southeastern Virginia. Quoting 
Mr. A. T. Wayne’s “Birds of South Carolina,” he states: 
“The birds seem to know by instinct when the center of 
the tree is rotten, or has what the lumberman calls ‘Black- 
heart,’ and never make a mistake in selecting a tree. 
The hole is bored through the solid wood, generally a little 
upward, to the center of the tree (which is always rotten), 
then downward to the depth of from nine inches to a foot 
or more. This species lays from two to five very glossy 
white eggs, generally three, rarely four, while five is 
exceptional. I have taken five eggs but once, May 14th, 
1902. The earliest set taken was on April 27th, 1884. 
The eggs average .95x.70 in size; only one brood a 
season.” In this section the eggs are laid about the first 
of April. The birds sometimes occupy the same cavity 
two or more consecutive seasons. They are not injurious 
to agriculturists, as their food is similar to that of the 
preceding species. I found them breeding in Giles 
County, 1913, altitude 4,000 feet. 
