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THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVII 
and stopped to watch the birds flying through the air after insects. Sometimes 
they flew out in big circles, returning, flycatcher-fashion, to the wire from which 
they started. Sometimes they went straight up into the air and tumbled back, 
at times catching themselves suddenly in their downward flight, and darting- 
forward. I thought, as I watched them, how remarkably graceful they were for 
woodpeckers, and how much they foraged like the true flycatchers. It was be- 
ginning to get dark and I was passing on when, to my amazement, one of the birds 
flew to the pole and fed something within. As I listened I knew that my eyes 
had not deceived me, but that, unusual or not, there were young in that nest. 
The next day, from three until four p. m., I watched at the pole and re- 
corded the actions of the birds. I soon noticed that a woodpecker was resting on 
the wire above the nest, and that two others were busy feeding. This resting bird 
was a trifle smaller and the black breast-band was more marked with white. In 
some indescribable way I was impressed with the idea that it was an immature 
bird. Presently it flew away and I thought no more about its presence until all 
three came to the wires at once and after two of them had fed and left, tins third 
mysterious bird went into the hole and stayed there. 
It was the habit of the adults to fly about in the neighborhood, inspecting 
the poles, or to fly through the air, for most of their food. Sometimes they were 
out of sight, but they did not stay long. When a bird came, he, or she, popped 
into the nest, stayed a minute and came out, sometimes giving the ja-cob call, 
which both used. 
After this third woodpecker had gone into the pole-nest, I kept my eyes 
riveted upon it so as to know how long the bird stayed in there. When the adults 
came to feed they did not go inside but reached over, fed, and flew away. Three 
times one of them did this, but the fourth time, when the male came, he stood 
on one side of the hole and T heard him give low, guttural notes. It seemed quite 
evident that he was saying: “See here, you young scamp, it is high time that 
you were coming out of there. Let me get in and attend to your brothers and 
sisters, as I should.’’ Presently, the truant young, for such he proved to be, ap- 
peared in the doorway and, with open mouth, begged for just one bite. “Please 
don’t scold, father dear,’’ I felt sure lie was saying, “it was so nice and cozy 
down there and the children were glad to have me, — really they were.’’ 
But the old bird was unrelenting and stayed in his position by the hole until 
the bird inside, which was undoubtedly a former nestling, came out and flew 
onto the wire above, when the adult male went within. 
Just to prove that he was not all baby, the former nestling turned in and 
helped feed. Several times he went into the hole and came directly out, and I 
might have thought that he was in there in hopes of getting fed had I not dis- 
tinctly seen a big fly in li is bill as he entered. Each time as he bobbed into the 
hole several white bars showed plainly on the underside of the outer tail feathers. 
It was this marking of a young bird which convinced me that he was a former 
nestling. In every other respect he resembled a male California Woodpecker. 
Once more, during my watching, he slipped into the nest, staying eight minutes 
before they got him out. The first time it had been twenty minutes. 
In an hour’s watching the birds fed 28 times, the shortest interval being one- 
half minute, the longest eight. In nine minutes they fed eight times. 
On the 15th of the month, when I believe the young must have been about 
ten days old, they were fed 24 times in 58 minutes. The food given them now 
was mostly acorns which the adults took from the nearby poles, sometimes dig- 
ging them out in pieces, and sometimes taking them to the top of a flat pole 
