J32 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



pany with Dr. Hoy, visited Racine, and witnessed the results of this 

 perforatory process. The punctures were made into the inner bark 

 of trees, and were so close together that the bark eventually became 

 stripped off, causing a complete and fatal destruction of them. In one 

 garden, all the mountain -ash and white pine trees were entirely killed. 

 It is evident from the foregoing statements that these birds manifest 

 an ungovernable and decided taste for the inner bark. As these at- 

 tacks were made 'in the spring, it is probable that the sap, which had 

 begun to circulate, was the chief source of attraction. We have ob- 

 served them to attack trees in this neighborhood, but never to such an 

 extent." 



GENUS CEOPHLGBUS. OABANIS. 

 405. Ceophlceus pileatus (LINN.). 



Plicated Woodpecker. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill blue-black, lower mandible much lighter in color than the upper ; feet and 

 tarsi in dried specimens black ; iris yellowish ; general color of body, wings and tail 

 dull black ; a narrow white streak from just above the eye to occiput, a wider one 

 from the nostril feathers (inclusive) under the eye and along the side of the head 

 and neck ; side of the breast (concealed by the wing), axillaries, and under wing 

 coverts, and concealed bases of all the quills, with chin and beneath the head, white, 

 tinged with sulphur-yellow ; entire crown, from the base of the bill to a well-devel- 

 oped occipital crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the lower jaw, scarlet-red ; a few 

 white crescents on the sides of the body and on the abdomen. Female similar to 

 male, but without red on the cheek and only the back part of crest red. 



Length about 18 inches ; extent about 27 ; wing, 9| inches. 



Hab. Formerly whole wooded region of North America ; now rare or extirpated 

 in the more thickly settled parts of the Eastern States. 



This bird, the largest of all our Woodpeckers, is found in Pennsyl- 

 vania at all seasons, but occurs only in the heavily wooded districts, 

 and even in these secluded localities it is not common. In April, 

 1885, I found a nest of the Pileated Woodpecker in Orange county, 

 Florida, where this species is exceedingly numerous. It was made in 

 a wild cherry tree, growing near the edge of an orange grove. The 

 excavation, about two feet, or a little less in depth, was made in a 

 dead limb. The entrance to the nest was not over twelve or fifteen 

 feet from the ground. The glossy, white eggs, quite small for the size 

 of the bird, were removed when three had been deposited on a few 

 chips at the bottom of the opening. As the mouth of the cavity had 

 been somewhat broken when they were taken out, I supposed the 

 birds would desert the place, but about one week later I visited the 

 tree and saw a Pileated Woodpecker, which I judge was the same 

 bird that had been robbed by me, at work in this cavity. Having 

 heard the bird working, I approached the tree cautiously, and stood 

 back of a neighboring tree, whose thick branches, with their abun- 



