Tile Singing of Birds. E. P. Bicknell. 
Sphyrapicus varius. ellow-bellied Woodpecker. 
The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker poses in a very different 
chaiactei as a traveller than as a settler in its summer home. 
By reference to Dr. Merriam’s entertaining paper on this bird, in 
the ‘Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club’ for January, 1879, 
we learn of its habits on its arrival in Lewis County. There it is 
bold, familiar and preposterously noisy. In the region of which 
I write it is in general a reserved and quiet bird, and does not often 
indulge in hammering, even in the spring. Perhaps at the time 
it passes April it is not ready to begin courtship, and drum- 
ming, which, as with other Woodpeckers, in a measure takes the 
place of song, is deferred until the birds are ready to seek their 
mates. 
But though the species in general is undemonstrative with us, 
there may be an occasional noisy individual. I can cite a good 
instance under date of April 8, 1880: On the morning of that day 
a high-plumaged male had chanced upon a wonderfully resonant 
hollow limb in an old chestnut tree in open woods. No true Wood- 
peckei could miss turning such an occasion to account, and the 
hard barkless shell was made to do good service. With great 
satisfaction the bird would deliver at short intervals a loud tattoo 
a run of about eight determined raps in irregular succession. 
After each sally it would throw back its red-patched head with an 
air of satisfied achievement and survey the woods, which seemed 
doubly silent after the loud reveille. 
I have never known this Woodpecker to drum in the autumn. 
At that season it seems especially reserved. Many take up their 
habitation in orchards or on private grounds where there are old 
apple trees, and from their silence and the close manner in which 
they hug the limbs seem to haunt them with a constant suspicion, 
although they are not shy of approach. In these trees they keep 
up a feeble, restless picking, in their microscopic search of the 
bark for their hidden food. This is the only sound I have heard 
from them in the autumn, except an occasional low scream, 
which may rarely be uttered in the winter. 
Auk, 2, July, 1885. p. . 
