Pileated Woodpecker, vs. Blue Jay. 
BY L. O. PINDAR, HICKMAN, KY. 
I will relate a little incident connected with 
the above bird of which I was an amused wit- 
ness this morning. 
I was coming back from a walk when I saw a 
large black bird, which I knew at once, both 
from the rolling flight peculiar to all woodpeck- 
ers and the large white wing patches, to be a 
I’ileated Woodpecker. He was flying high up 
in the air but as I watched him he flew down 
and alighted on a tree not far oft'. I started to 
the tree, for although the Pileated Woodpecker 
is a rather common bird here in the swamps, 
yet I always like to wateli them. As I ap- 
proached he flew to another limb but this tree 
was already tenanted by a Ked-headed Wood- 
pecker who pecked him savagely and flew be- 
hind the tree. Red-head then gave one of those 
long rattling calls, which is one of the first 
noises we hear of a morning. A Blue Jay 
Immediately appeared upon the scene and flew 
at Ilylotomus, not I suppose out of sympathy 
for the Red-head but simply because a Blue 
Jay cannot keep out of a fight if he can get in- 
to one. As he came Hylotomus dodged behind 
the tree and as the Blue Jay passed struck at 
him with his great dagger like bill with such 
violence that missing the jay he was almost 
{jerked from his perch and he flew to another 
■ tree. Immediately a dozen blue jays were after 
him, but the moment he faced around all but 
two took their departure in hot haste. The re- 
maining two, however, charged him, drove 
him from his perch and chased him all over 
the large woods. At last, almost tired out, he 
alighted on a beech tree, taking no notice of 
his triumphant pursuers who were screaming 
at him from a limb about two feet away, he 
commenced to peck the rotton limb he was sit- 
ting on. At the first stroke a large piece of 
bark was hurled to the ground and the fright- 
ened jays flew off screaming and left him mas- 
ter of the field. 0 &Q XILSep t. 1887 p.146 
shvtni/ 1 1 0'lbaJZcO 
I also saw two Pileated Wood- 
peckers, ( Ilylotomus pileatus.) I think 
they were wanderers, for the land has 
been pretty well cleared by fires and log- 
gers. I never saw but one of these birds 
alive before. It was in the beginning of 
last winter, near Dover, Del. There had 
been a “ freeze” the night before and all 
the small puddles, and a good many of 
the big ones had a pretty thick coat of ice. 
While walking - near a creek I heard some- 
thing pounding on the ice, and then an an- 
gry “ squeal ” unmistakeably a bird’s. A 
few steps brought him in sight. He was 
down on the ice covering a small inlet, 
pounding till I thought he would break 
his bill, and stopping every few seconds 
to squeal. I could not see what he want- 
ed, unless it was water. After several 
minutes of this occupation he flew up and 
lit on a tree directly in front of me, and 
not over six feet away, and pounded it. 
Then with a series of cries he flew into the 
swamp and that was the last I saw of him, 
but his whole performance was extremely 
ludicrous. — Chas. D. Gibson, Renovo , Pa. 
QM O. -VlULDee, 1383 p. <j H. 
Pileated Woodpecker. I had, some years since, an 
opportunity to observe the habits of a pair of Pileated 
Woodpeckers, {Ilylotomus pileatus,) that made their nests 
in a dead elm in an old clearing, in an excavation in the 
main trunk, about forty feet from the ground. One day, 
after the young birds were hatched, one of the parent birds 
arrived with a large grub, and alighting on the bare, smooth 
trunk about fifteen feet below the nest as usual, commenced 
to ascend after the manner of the Pici, when a pair of Red- 
headed Woodpeckers attacked it, flying up from below. 
The Pileatus defended itself courageously by striking up- 
ward against the air with its wings, and striking its assail- 
ants with the points of its vectrices, and actually thus beat 
them nearly to the ground, before one of them dexterously 
seized the prize and made off to its own nest. I would like 
to know if similar rencounters have been observed by your- 
self or correspondents.— Mrs. Margaret Musick, Mount 
Carmel , Mo. Q.&O. IX. Oct. 1884. p./i ST. 
