240 
HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
Young. There is a sulphury tinge to the white markings, and the inner white tail feather is tipped with black, in 
both sexes and, in the male, the scarlet patch on the occiput is more restricted; otherwise similar to the adult* Iris, red¬ 
dish-brown, bill, black, bluish at base of lower mandible, and feet, bluish, in all the preceding stages. 
Nestling male. Very much tinged on the white with sulphury, the forehead is spotted with white, and the top of the 
head is spotted with scarlet; otherwise as in the young female. 
Nestling female. A specimen before me, belonging to the Bangs Brothers, taken from the nest in Lincoln, Massachu¬ 
setts, on the eighteenth of June, 1877, and which was only half grown, has the forehead spotted with white and is slightly 
tinged with sulphury on the white; otherwise similar to the young female. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Specimens from the South, although smaller in size, do not differ strickingly in color. They may, however, be a trifle 
darker as an average but there is considerable variation in this respect in birds from all sections; thus, a skin taken at 
Smithvil-le,.North Carolina, shows as much, or more, white as any from Pennsylvania or from further north. As there is a 
most perfect gradation in size, from the large northern variety to the small southern one, I do not see the feasibility of ap¬ 
plying a name to either extreme as it is not possible to draw a line between them, and the same remarks might be applica¬ 
ble to almost any geographical race, unless it be separated from its allies by some natural division which prevents any two 
forms from intergrading. Distributed, as a constant resident, throughout North America 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of seven specimens from New England. Length, 9 85; stretch, 14*70; wing, 4*83; tail, 3 55; 
bill, 1*23; tarsus, *92. Longest specimen, 10*50; greatest extent of wing, 16*50; longest wing, 5*07; tail, 4*00; bill, 1*36; 
tarsus, 1*00. Shortest specimen, 9*20; smallest extent of wing, 13*00; shortest wing, 4*60; tail, 3*10; bill, 1 10; tarsus, *85. 
Average measurements of five specimens from Florida. Length, 8*70; stretch, 14*00, wing, 4*65; tail, 2*97; bill, i*02; 
tarsus, *67. Longest specimen, 8*90; greatest extent of wing, 15*00; longest wing, 4*75; tail, 3*20; bill, 1*05; tarsus, *75. 
Shortest specimen, 8*50; smallest extent of wing, 13*00; shortest wing, 4*50; tail, 2*75; bill, 1*00; tarsus, *60. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed in cylinder-shaped holes, generally excavated in dead trees. Dimensions, diameter of external orifice, 
2*00, greatest internal, 2*50. Internal depth, 15 00. 
Eggs,, four or five in number, elliptical in foim, pure, pclisl cd pcarlj-white in color. Dimensions from 65x *70* to 
*75x*80. 
HABITS. 
The Hairy Woodpeckers have, like the Golden-wing, a wide distribution, being found 
in nearly all localities from Maine to Florida but, -in some sections, they are much more 
common than in others. Thus, I have found them exceedingly abundant in the vast for¬ 
ests of Northern Maine in autumn but, in Massachusetts, they are not of very frequent 
occurrence, even in fall or winter, and are rare in summer. They occur in all the wooded 
sections of Pennsylvania as a moderately common resident, are not unusual south of this 
point, especially in the Carolinas, and in Florida, I have taken them quite frequently, al¬ 
though, when, compared with many other of the smaller Woodpeckers, as regards numbers, 
in a section where representatives of the families are so abundant, they appear quite un¬ 
common, for I did not find one ITairy where I found a hundred of the Cockaded or Red 
and Yellow-bellied. 
Although these Woodpeckers are found in such a vast extent of country, their habits 
do not differ noticeably, neither do those which live in the piney woods of Florida, utter 
any different notes from those which inhabit the forests of Maine. It is observable, how¬ 
ever, that in the South, the harsh, abruptly given cry is not repeated as frequently as in 
the North, neither is the rattling call produced by striking the bill on a dead limb, made 
as often; in fact, the Woodpeckers of Florida, of all species, appear to be affected by the 
enervating climate and are thus much more indolent than birds of the same species which 
