OF VIRGINIA 161 
bored, selects its final abode near the top, sometimes sixty 
feet up. As these trees are also the favorite abode of the 
flying-squirrel (Sciuropterus volucella), this may account 
for the number of holes bored by these birds. I am con- 
fident many nice sets of eggs are eaten by the squirrels, 
and possibly young as well. As a boy, my first experience 
with these birds was in a dead pine not far from town. 
The nesting cavity was not less than fifty feet up, and 
after nailing strips of wood up the tree so as to reach it 
easily, found only one egg deposited when first visited, so 
I waited further duties. After several visits, the last 
time finding only five eggs had been laid, I decided to 
take them the next day, and bring a gun along for the 
birds as well. Imagine my disgust on climbing the tree 
the following day to put my hand on a flying-squirrel 
and have my finger quickly bitten. It is needless to say 
the flying-squirrel was collected, and I returned wiser in 
facts as to the woodpecker’s fight for existence. Four 
to six eggs is a complete set, a dullish, glossy white. Size, 
1.00x.75. Only one brood a season. Fresh eggs May 
25th to June 15th. Their food is similar to that of the 
other smaller woodpeckers, with the addition of berries, 
and sometimes fruit. Numerous ornithologists have seen 
this species destroy the eggs and young of other cavity- 
nesting species, but as vet J have not come across a pair 
of these birds which were cannibals. 
GENUS CENTURUS. 
[409]. Centurus carolinus (Linneus). Red-bellied 
Woodpecker. 
Raner.—Upper and Lower Austral zones of eastern 
United States from southeastern South Dakota, south- 
