198 
THE WILSON BULLETIN— December, 1922 
good an observer as Yarrell described in his ^ British Birds ’ the 
old pigeons as feeding the young by placing their beaks in the 
months of the little ones, and overlooked altogether the beautiful 
adaptation of the broad spoon shaped lower jaw to the habits of 
the animals.’’ 
It is evident that there are errors of observation present or 
that the doves have two different methods of feeding the squabs, 
possibly at different periods of the nest life. My own experiences 
with the Mourning Dove lead me to believe that Tegetmeier’s 
account is correct. However, I call attention to it here with the 
liope that some one who has the opportunity will get at the facts 
of the case. 
Downy Woodpecker {Dryohates imhescens medianus) 
Although I made many efforts to find a woodpecker’s nest so 
situated as to permit close-range study, some condition necessary 
to success was always lacking. 
The nearest approach to achievement was with a i3air of 
doAvii}^ Avoodpeckers. HoAvever, the factor here working against 
success Avas that the young left the nest before the study was 
fairly under Avay. 
This nest Avas located about fourteen feet from the ground in 
an old gnarled boxelder tree. It contained at the time of dis- 
covery, June 2, 1915, four Avell-developed young. As soon as the 
nest was located a blind Avas erected and observations were 
started and carried on for an hour. On June 3 the study was 
continued but after tAvo hours, Avhen an attempt Avas made to 
move the blind closer, the young left the nest. During the three 
hours the nest was under observation the four young Avere fed 
48 times, 21 by the female bird and 27 by the male. The young 
Avere very noisy and during the absence of the parent kept thrust- 
ing their heads out of the nest opening, screeching all the time. 
As one of the parents approached Avithin sight the noise re- 
doubled until one Avas fed. 
Little was learned regarding the nature of the food. The 
distance of fifty feet was too great even with glasses to identify 
the food carried in the beak although it Avas practically always 
visible. TAvice the male, foraging on a nearby tree trunk, was 
seen to catch spiders and on four different occasions a shiny 
brown larva Avas seen protruding from the beak of a parent 
bird as he scrambled along a branch of an oak within ten feet 
of the blind. 
