244 C. H. Macklin—Breeding the White-headed Woodpecker



spring. A pair of these were put into one of my small breeding aviaries,

which they had to themselves. The nest box was hung about 8 feet

from the floor in the sleeping quarters of the aviary. The box was

12 inches high and 8 inches square, with entrance hole 2 inches

from the top. The nest was built of dried grass, moss, and a few feathers.

The first egg was laid on 27th May, and five eggs were laid by the

31st May. Only the hen was seen to incubate. Five young were hatched

out by 12th June. All left the nest on 3rd July, a particularly strong

and healthy lot of young. Two days after leaving the nest the young

were observed eating ants’ eggs. The young were reared on fresh

ants eggs and gentles only, although fresh insectivorous food, which

was given daily, was never touched. The ants eggs were mixed with

dry earth, and this was continually raked over so that a good supply

of eggs kept coming to the surface. The young resemble the young

of Sialia sialis.



BREEDING THE WHITE-HEADED

WOODPECKER


Melanerpes Candidas


By C. H. Macklin, F.Z.S., M.B.C.S., L.B.C.P.


The successful breeding in captivity of this bird is, I think, an

event of some importance in the avicultural world, for I can find no

record of any other British or foreign Woodpecker having nested.

A short description of this handsome bird may not be out of place

as they are not very commonly imported. There is a rather poor

drawing of the bird in Butler’s Foreign Birds for Cage and Aviary ,

and he records that the Zoological Society received a specimen in

1871. The adult bird is about 12 inches long, white head and body ;

black back and wings ; black tail barred with white ; bare skin round

the eye, lemon yellow ; a pale yellow patch on the abdomen, paler

in the hen, and in the cock only, a yellow splash on the back of the neck ;

beak and feet black ; a black line extending from the eye to the back



