BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 25 I 



The Great Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophlocus pileatus). 



This bird, variously known as the log cock, cock of the woods, or pileated 

 woodpecker, is the largest of the family now found within the limits of the 

 United States, with the single exception of the ivory-billecl woodpecker, which is 

 very rare. It is essentially a bird of the forests, and is only found where there 

 are rather extensive tracts of timber. It is a shy, retiring bird, difficult to 

 approach, and, where not abundant, is better known by its work than by sight 

 of the bird itself. Its large size, loud voice, and habit of hammering upon dead 

 trees, render it conspicuous, however, at a considerable distance. Its strength is 

 wonderful, and one unacquainted with it can scarcely credit a bird with such 

 powers of destruction as is sometimes shown by a stump or dead trunk on which 

 it has operated for ants or boring larvae. I have seen strips of wood two feet in 

 length and four inches wide, by one inch thick, torn from a stump, and thrown 

 several yards away by this bird. It is a well known fact that various species of 

 woodpeckers have a way of signaling to each other by hammering upon a dead 

 tree or branch, or any other resonant body, such as the metallic cornice of a build- 

 ing, as has been sometimes observed. The pileated woodpecker is an adept at this 

 method of telegraphing, and once gave the writer an exhibition of skill in 

 this respect which will long linger in his memory. It was toward the close 

 of a sultry afternoon among the mountains of Virginia, and a thunder shower was 

 rapidly approaching. The sky was all overcast, and it was as dark as twilight, 

 though the sun was several hours above the horizon. The wind had died away, 

 every leaf hung motionless, and, except for an occasional low mutter of thunder, 

 not a sound could be heard. Suddenly from near the top of a ridge came the 

 loud, sharp rub-a-dub-dub of the great woodpecker drumming on a dead chestnut 

 stub. Immediately came the answering drum of another half way down the slope, 

 then another from farther along the ridge, then from across the valley, and so on 

 until at last a dozen performers were callng and answering to each other in turn, 

 until the downpour of the shower put a stop to the whole. 



The food of the pileated woodpecker is nearly evenly divided between insect 

 and vegetable matter. The former consists of beetles and ants, with a few of 

 some other orders. The beetles are mostly taken in the larval stage, and are 

 nearly all wood-boring species. Even those that are eaten in the adult form 

 are of the same species as the larvae. The ants are all of the large species that 

 infest wood, decayed or otherwise. All of the insects taken are such as are found 

 in the forests where these birds feed almost exclusively. 



