324 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
destroyed these, in which case I have known them hurriedlyAo 
make an excavation in a neighboring stump. 
(d). Their ordinary note is a chink or chick, which they most 
often utter on alighting on some tree or fence. Occasionally 
they repeat this rapidly (as chick-a-chick-chick-chick-chick). 
These notes, unless uttered in anger, seem indicative of the 
little woodpecker’s contented disposition and constant happi- 
ness. ~ 
VI. HYLOTOMUS 
(A) Pitzatus. Pileated Woodpecker. Black ‘‘ Log-cock.” 
“ Wood-cock.” 
(In New England, almost entirely confined to the “timbered” 
districts of the North.) 
(a). About cighteen inches long. Nearly black; a slight 
superciliary line, a broad stripe from the bill to the sides, wing- 
patch, etc., white. Crest, scarlet; in 9, black infront. , 
with a scarlet cheek-patch. 
(b). ‘*The eggs, which are six in number, average 1:25 X 
1:00 of an inch, or more.” See I, A, b. 
(c). The Pileated Woodpeckers are in New England the 
largest, most spirited, and wildest of their tribe, bot to the 
southward they yield to the larger ‘ Ivory-bill,” and in Central 
Amcrica to the magnificent Campephilus imperialis. ‘They live 
exclusively in heavily timbered country, where they frequent 
the forests undisturbed by man, and the backwoods. There, 
solitarily or in pairs, they remain throughout the year, unless 
tempted by grain to wander to the fields. They are said to 
withstand alike the cold of Labrador and the heat of Florida, 
but in southern New England they are no longer found, though 
not rare in some parts of the White Mountains, and in like lati- 
tudes. They are rather shy, but they may sometimes be seen 
dexterously stripping off in large sheets the bark of decayed 
trees and logs, in order to lay bare the remains beneath. “If 
wounded on a tree, they cling desperately ; if shot while flying, 
they defend themselves with courage, often inflicting severe 
wounds with their powerful bills.” They fly in undulations, 
