I 20 
General Notes. 
plains bordering the Black River, Cheboygan County, my attention was 
attracted by the peculiar cry of a Woodpecker on a tree near the road, 
which at a glance I saw was a new bird to me ; being secured it proved to 
be Picoides arcticus. Five specimens were taken at this time, two males 
and three females. Again on the 14th of August, on the pine plains along 
the Sturgeon River, I shot a female of this species which showed conclu- 
sive evidence of having bred in the vicinity. Others were seen at this 
time but not secured. 
August 10, 1880, while encamped on the Sturgeon River, a flock of eight 
or ten Canada Jays were seen early one morning about camp ; one adult 
male and one young male of the present season were taken. Although 
I have passed five summers collecting through the northern part of 
the state, this is the first time I have met with Perisoreus canadensis. — 
Chas. W. Gunn, Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Capture of the Red-bellied Woodpecker {Centurus carolinus) in 
Eastern Massachusetts. — A female of this species was taken by Mr. 
William Adair in a chestnut grove in Newton, November 25, 1880. The 
male was seen and wounded but was not secured. — Gordon Plummer, 
Boston , Mass. 
A 
Novel Nesting-sites of Woodpeckers (Colaptes auratus and Mel- 
anerpes erythrocephalus.') — Having often wondered where the above-named 
birds breed when seen on the open prairies forty or fifty miles from any 
timber the whole summer, I promised some farmer boys a suitable reward 
if they would find their nests anywhere outside of hollow trees and was 
most agreeably rewarded in being shown two nests of the Golden-winged 
Woodpecker and one of the Red-headed in rather queer quarters. One 
nest of the former was in an old wagon hub, about two feet from the ground, 
and hidden by a rank growth of weeds. The other was in a hollow formed 
by two large willow-sticks that formed part of a hay roof over a cattle-shed. 
The nest of the Red-head was in the angle formed by the shares of an 
upturned plow. In no instance was there any attempt at nest-building, 
the newly-hatched young ones resting on some dirt and rubbish. — G. S. 
Agersborg, Vermillion , Dakota. 
An unaccountable migration of the Red-headed Woodpecker. — 
Ordinarily this species ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ) is decidedly the 
most numerous of the Woodpeckers in Southeastern Illinois, while during 
the winter season it is often so excessively common in the sheltered 
bottom-lands as to outnumber all- other species together, and, in fact, is 
voted a decided nuisance by the hunter, sportsman, or collector, on account 
of its well known habit of following any one carrying a gun, and annoying 
him by its continued chatter; at intervals sweeping before him and thus 
diverting attention. Being at this season always semi-gregarious, while 
they are of all Woodpeckers the most restless and sportive, the annoyance 
which they thus cause is really no trifling matter. 
