374 
Pileated Woodpecker 
ward for a little more than three feet, turning slightly to the right as it 
not discover, as there was no knot or other indication of especially 
hard wood that would seem to turn the builders aside. Nevertheless, 
the bottom of the hole, where, on a layer of fine chips the eggs and young 
must have rested, was at least four inches to the right of the entrance. |) 
This nest was found in one of the innumerable hammocks which sur- 
round many of the lakes in central Florida. Here the heavy growths ii 
of oak, magnolia, hickory, and gum, make an ideal home for these timid j 
Woodpeckers. The birds are still abundant in suitable regions of that I 
state, but one should go to the primeval forests to find them, for they • 
do not like woodlands that have been cut over, and it is very rare to see 
one in the open pine-barrens of the sandy country. 
Next to the giant Ivory-billed, which is now almost extinct in the 
United States, the Pileated is the largest of the Woodpecker family 
found in this country. In order to get a somewhat accurate impres- 
the wings are spread to their greatest extent the distance from tip to 
tip is about twenty-seven inches. The same measurements for the Wood- 
pecker under discussion are seventeen inches in length and twenty-seven 
and a half inches across when the wings are expanded. 
There is, however, much individual variation in the size of both birds. 
For example, the Woodpecker ranges in length from fifteen inches to 
nineteen inches, and the expanse of wings varies in different individual 
birds from twenty-five to thirty inches, so it is a perfectly truthful state- 
ment to say that the Pileated Woodpecker is as large as a Crow. 
The eggs of this species, like those of all other Woodpeckers, are 
glossy white. They range in number from four to six, and in size 
measure about one and a quarter inches in length and a little less 
than an inch in width. The period of incubation is eighteen days. The 
young are hatched naked and are extremely helpless. They do not leave 
the nesting-cavity until the wing-quills are well grown and the birds 
are quite able to fly. The parents take turns incubating the eggs and it is 
said that if the one on the nest desires to leave, it will call its mate and 
remain in the hole until the other comes. 
The food of the Pileated Woodpecker is composed largely of insect 
life. It is very fond of grubs, wood-boring beetles and ants, especially 
attack a dead tree or log and in half an hour will leave a pile of 
chips of which a less ardent worker might well be proud. Often frag- 
ments of wood as large as one’s hand may be seen where the bird has 
been at work, and I once measured a combination chip and splinter more 
than fourteen inches in length. While engaged in this carpenter work. 
descended. Why the hole had not been dug straight downward I could 
sion of its size one may think of it in comparison 
to a Crow. From tip of bill to tip of tail the 
Common Crow is about eighteen inches, and when 
The 
Woodcutter 
those species that make their homes in dead wood. 
To procure this food the Woodpecker has devel- 
oped remarkable skill as a woodcutter. It will 
