314 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
the result of his first efforts, he begins again in another place 
or a different tree. It is nearly or quite as common to find the 
uncompleted excavations of this species and the Downy Wood- 
pecker, as to find their finished nests. I have seen a tree with 
eight of the latter and three of the former. Immediately or 
soon after the middle of May (near Boston), six eggs are gen- 
erally laid, sometimes at irregular intervals. A dozen eggs or 
more, however, have been found in the same nest, but these 
had probably been laid by two or more females. The female 
sometimes continues to lay, if robbed of her eggs, or, after 
deepening the hole, lays another set. Even this is often 
taken by boys, to whom few birds are more familiar than these. 
The young at an early age scramble out to the fresh air, and 
about their native tree, until old enough to fly. 
The Pigeon Woodpeckers, as they are often called, frequent 
woods, orchards, pastures, fields, roadsides, and nearly all our 
kinds of trees, except the evergreens, for which they show no 
fondness. They may often be seen upon the ground, actively 
engaged in the destruction of ants (which chiefly constitute 
their diet), or hopping over our lawns in search of other in- 
sects. Sometimes, fluttering before a vine, they seize its ber- 
ries ; sometimes: they visit gardens not only for grubs but for 
grain, and sometimes, like true woodpeckers, they hop about 
trees in the search of insects, or of their larvee and eggs. They 
usually perch crosswise, which our other woodpeckers rarely do. 
They fly with ease, and often rapidity, moving through the air 
at a moderate height in gentle undulations, with an intermit- 
tent beating of the wings. They are naturally shy, and, 
‘though found in man’s society, rather avoid his near approach. 
They are also affectionate, merry, and even noisy. Buffon 
supposed them to lead a dull, toilsome, and wearisome life,— 
an idea which both Wilson and Audubon have indignantly 
refuted. 
(d). The three principal notes of the Pigeon Woodpeckers 
are: (1) A loud scream, wholly without the savageness ob- 
servable in those of many birds of prey, but, on the contrary, 
rather jovial, (2) the rapid repetition of another unmusical 
