8o RIDGWAY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



elder bushes in the distance, not far from the brook, the thought 

 occurred to me that I might take a rest beneath their shade, and at 

 the same time be ready for any strange bird that put in an appear- 

 ance. These bushes, or more properly, trees, are a great deal larger 

 shrub than our Eastern plant, their trunks growing from four to 

 eight inches through. And if they are not the same species, their 

 umbellate blossoms are strikingly similar, if not identical, to those 

 of our common Eastern shrub {Sambucus canadensis). 



I had hardly seated myself on an arm of the shrub when my 

 attention was attracted to 'a hole in the main trunk directly above 

 my head. At almost the same instant a bird appeared at the open- 

 ing from within, and dodged back again as soon as she saw me. 

 The movement was executed so quickly that I was unable to tell 

 whether it was a wren or a woodpecker, but concluded that it was 

 the latter. Upon examination of the aperture it seemed to have 

 been lately made. Of course I thought that there would be no 

 trouble in dislodging her, and commenced to rap on the trunk of 

 the shrub with the butt of my gun, but this seemed to have no ef- 

 fect. I then walked back about fifty feet, and taking a stand, 

 waited from ten to fifteen minutes in the hope that she would come 

 out, affording me an opportunity to secure her and thus solve the 

 mystery; but in this maneuver I was also baffled. I then went up 

 to the bush and shouted with all my might, but this did not shake 

 her nervous system in the least, when I finally resorted to my jack- 

 knife in order to enlarge the orifice, but from its being such a tedious 

 job, gave it up in disgust. The next morning I took a hatchet 

 along with me, for I desired very much to know what that hole 

 contained. It did not take me very long to cut a place large enough 

 for me to get my hand in, and I was thoroughly surprised to learn 

 that the bird was still on her nest. I pulled her out, and she ap- 

 peared to be stupefied; dead apparently, but soon revived. Upon 

 further inspection I found that the nest contained eggs. The bird 

 proved to be the female of Nuttall's Woodpecker, and the eggs 

 were pretty well advanced in incubation, and would have hatched 

 in a few days. 



The nest, which was about five and a half feet from the 

 ground, was very near a foot deep, and about five inches wide. The 

 hole at the enhance to the nest was but a little larger than a sil- 

 ver half-dollar. The eggs were six in number, their dimensions 

 being .S5X.66 inches, .87X.65 inches, .82X.64 inches, .S5X. 66 inches, 

 .85X.66 inches, and .S4X.64 inches, respectively. 



