The Western Pileated Woodpecker 
Taken in the Yosemite Photo by the Author 
ON THE BANKS OF THE MERCED 
SEVERAL PAIRS OF PILEATED WOODPECKERS NEST BETWEEN THE OBSERVER AND HALF DOME 
ments. These extend backward from the base of the tongue over and 
around the skull, nearly to the upper base of the bird's bill again. 
The great forest fires which have ravaged portions of our State 
have proved a godsend to the woodpeckers, although they are in no 
way responsible for them. The Pileated Woodpecker does his share 
in staying the ravages of the wood-working insects, but he is even more 
interested in the spoliation of fallen logs, and so hastens rather than 
retards decay. A pair of these Woodpeckers will gradually tear a rotten 
log quite to pieces in pursuit of the grubs and wood-boring ants which 
it harbors. They are shy or confiding just in proportion to the amount 
of persecution which they have been called upon to endure. I have 
waited half a day trying to get a specimen, and again I have sat under a 
shower of chips or ogled a busy pair in the open at forty feet. 
The Log-cock has a variety of notes, and one who learns them 
will find the bird much more common than he may have supposed. 
The most noteworthy of these is a high-pitched stentorian call, which 
is not exactly laughter, although something like it in form, hit ha ha 
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