THE PILEATED WOODPEOKEE. 103 



flavor, a kind of sweet-sour taste, which any amount of seasoning and cooking 

 does not disguise, and I consider it as a very unpalatable substitute for game 

 of any kind. 



In the Rocky Mountain regions of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and 

 Wyoming the Pileated Woodpecker apparently does not occur, and if it occa- 

 sional!)^ should, it must be considered very rare. The same remarks apply to 

 Utah and the greater part of Nevada, but it is occasionally met with in the 

 western part of the latter State. I found it quite rare also in Idaho, Oregon, and 

 Washington, excepting in the coast regions of the latter States. In California 

 it is not uncommon in portions of the Sierra Nevadas, while in British Columbia 

 it appears to be far more abundant than anywhere else west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, both on the coast and in the interior, especially in the vicinity 

 of Lake Babine, in about latitude 55°, from which point Mr. R. MacFarlane 

 sent a number of specimens to the United States National Museum in 1889. It 

 has also been taken by Mr. B. R. Ross, of the Hudson Bay Company, at Fort 

 Liard, in the extreme northeastern corner of British Columbia, and on Big 

 Island, in Great Slave Lake, by Mr. John Reed, which marks the most northern 

 point of its known range. 



It can thus be seen that the Pileated Woodpecker is by no means dis- 

 tributed over the whole of North America, and that it is not found in many 

 heavily timbered sections which appear to be equally suitable as a habitat 

 as many of those which it occupies. It is eminently a bird of the more extensive 

 forest regions, and is as much at home in a semi-tropical as in a cold climate. 

 As a rule, specimens from the northern borders of its range are considerably 

 larger than those from the south. There appears to be considerable difference 

 in the habits of this bird; in some sections it is extremely shy and wary, while 

 in others it is exactly the reverse. 



Mr. Manly Hardy, of Brewer, Maine, writes me: "This splendid bird is not 

 uncommon in the heavily timbered portions of our State, and. although usually 

 very shy, becomes accustomed to man if not disturbed. I once had two so 

 tame they would allow me to sit within 4 paces of them, and put my hand upon 

 the tree when they were not 10 feet above my head. They usually select 

 certain large dead hemlock trees to which they go almost daily, often remaining 

 for hours, repeating their visits until the bark is almost entirely removed from 

 the tree. It was owing to the proximity of several such trees to my home camp 

 that I was able to become so familiar with them. They often chisel holes 6 or 

 8 inches deep in cedar and other soft-wood trees, and as large as the holes in 

 a post-and-rail fence. I have seen one pick a large hole through 2 inches of 

 frozen green hemlock to get at the hollow interior, and it seemed impossible 

 that a steel tool of the same size could have done such work without beina- 

 broken. They are easily called by clapping the hands so as to imitate their 

 pounding. This requires skill, but I have taught others so that they have been 

 successful in it. When called they seem to lose their usual shyness, and seem 

 stupefied at not finding their mate, as they had expected. I have found them 



