Habits of Picoides - [female] with eggs.
MAINE, (L. Umbagog. [Umbagog Lake, Maine]) Porcupine Wounded Chordeiles
1876.
Tuesday
May 30 [May 30, 1876] Clear and cool. Off after breakfast with
S. [William Stone] taking the Tyler road. Edward Harrington
of Salem arrived by stage last night and
started out with us this morning. Found
the woods perfectly silent and apparently
tenantless as far as birds were concerned,
for the cold had rendered them silent
but as the sun got up overhead and the
day became warmer they began to be
heard and seen. Most of the warblers were
collected in little companies in the sunny
nooks. I took 14 birds the best Pecoides
Arcticus [Picoides arcticus] [male], D. Blackburniae [Dendroica blackburniae] 4 [males] 1 [female],
My. pusillus [Myiodioctes pusillus] [male & female]. Harrington got a 
[female] Picoides [Picoides arcticus] the mate I think of the 
one I killed. Her ovaries contained 4
eggs of large size and the oviduct showed
conclusively that she had already laid. One
egg had passed down nearly to the anus &
was of full size but without a shell. I
watched the [male] a long time before firing. This
woodpecker is by far the most active and
energetic of any of the family so far as I have
observed. His strokes on the tree trunks are
very powerful and his whole bearing bespeaks
vigorous energy. Just over the bog on the Tyler road
I came upon a [female] Junco that was building her
nest. She worked very busily collecting large
mouthfuls of dry leaves and arranging them in a 
hollow among some small firs. She in no instance
went over ten feet away from the spot in her quest
of materials. While standing here I chanced to look 
up and directly over my head stretched out
on a horizontal branch near its extremity lay
a porcupine. It seemed to be enjoying the
warmth of the sunshine. The tree was a willow 
[margin]not over 20 ft high. I could not see that any of the branches had been peeled. I finally pelted the beast with stones and sticks grazing it once or twice when it would look down at me stupidly moving its head as slowly & evenly as a piece of heavy machinery I finally left it and when we came back it was there still several hours after. H. [Edward Harrington] started a whip-poor-will. In the evening I shot at & winged a night hawk; it made no motion of intimidation when toutched [touched] but would walk away with an awkward sidelong motion. A large gang of river drivers came down at noon & camped near the house[/margin]