262 



NESTS AND EGGS OS" 



The largest of our North American Woodpeckers — in fact it is the prince of 

 Woodpeckers. Its length ranges from nineteen to twenty-one inches.* The adult 

 male has a long pointed crest of scarlet, the entire crown (with its elongated feath- 

 ers) is black; the bill ivory-yellowish or whitish. This bird is now rare, and is ap- 

 parently restricted to the extreme Southern States, especially those bordering the 

 Gulf of Mexico. It is of a wild and wary disposition, making its home in the dark, 

 swampy woodlands. The dense cypress swamps of Florida are at present one of its 

 favorite haunts. A set of three eggs of this species is in the cabinet of Captain B. 

 F. Goss. They were taken in Southern Texas in May, 1885, from a hole in a 

 tree about forty feet from the ground; the cavity was excavated to the depth of 

 nearly two feet, and was large enough to allow the collector to Insert his arm and 

 take out the eggs. These are pyriform in shape, and have the usual gloss of wood- 

 peckers' eggs, and measure, respectively, 1.44x1.06, 1.45x1.06, 1.44x1.07. The average 

 measurement of thirteen eggs in the U. S. National Museum is about 1.45x.99 inches. 

 Mr. W. E. D. Scott found a nest of this species in Hillsboro county, Florida, March 

 17, 1887, containing a young bird, one-third grown. The nest cavity was dug in a 

 large cypress tree in the midst of a dense swamp, and was forty-one feet from the 

 ground; the depth of the cavity was fourteen inches. Mr. Scott was told by old; 

 residents the bird was once very common in that region, but is now comparatively 

 rare and shy. The day the nest was found eleven of the birds were counted in the 

 swamp, sometimes four or five were in sight at once.f 



>! + 393. HAIRY WOODPECKER. Dryobates 

 villosvs (Linn.) Geog. Dist. — Northern and mid- 

 dle portions' of the Eastern United States, from 

 the Atlantic coast to the Great Plains. 



A ragged-looking black and white species, 

 known as the large "Sapsucker," and one of the 

 most noisy, in the woods during the breeding 

 season, which occurs in latter part of Apj:il, 

 through May and the early part of, June. It 

 does not accept the society of other species like 

 its miniature, the little "Sapsucker" — Downy 

 Woodpecker, and always maintains a more dig- 

 nified manner than this species when hunting 

 insects in the trunks of trees. The nest cavity 

 is commonly >dug in dead or partially dead tree- 

 trunks, on the outskirts of woods or those in 

 orchards; the distance from the ground usually 

 ranges from ten to twenty' feet, and the depth 

 of the cavity eight to fifteen inches. No material 

 is used for a nest lining; the eggs simply re^t 

 on the fine chips m^de during the excavating. 

 Four, rarely five, glossy-white eggs are de- 

 posited. Five specimens measure .97x.70, .98x 

 .70, .94X.69, l.OOx.70, l.OOx.68. 



* The Imperial Woodpecker, C. imperialis (Gould), measures twenty-three or twenty-fonr 

 inches in length. This bird is found in Western Mexico, north alongr the Sierra Madre, and prob- 

 ably has not yet been observed or talcen within our limits, but is lilcely to occur at any time within 

 the United States boundary. 



t Auk, V, p. 186. 



Hairv Woodpecker. 



