16 THE +A.U-DU BON? B GL TEs EN 
chips at the bottom of the cavity. This was on April 21. On April 27 
I took another look into the nest with my mirror and there were now five 
eggs. I figured incubation must be two or three days advanced and the 
young should hatch about May 11 or 12, as the incubation period for 
woodpeckers is ordinarily 14 days. So on May 11 I looked into the nest 
with my mirror. The eggs had not hatched but their dark color told me 
they would very soon. May 14 I looked into the nest again and the young 
had hatched; and homely youngsters they were too, blind, naked and help- 
less. Blue-black specks of developing pinfeathers showed through the pink 
skin, giving it a dirty appearance. May 18 these pinfeathers projected 
from the skin like so many black pin ends. May 25 the immature feathers 
had begun to grow out, and by June 2 the young were ready to leave the 
nest. June 4 they were out of the nest, trying clumsily to follow their 
parents and calling loudly for food. Their color was similar to the female, 
but the red on the head was replaced by blackish-gray and they were much 
duller generally. Still a third nest of red-bellied woodpeckers was found 
in Elk Grove in a hickory stub along the edge of the woods southeast of 
the Boy Scout cabin along Salt Creek. This nest hole, found May 28, had 
four young birds in the nest. 
= vk ra 
Belhigerent Gulls 
BONAPARTE GULLS had always seemed to us to be inoffensive and not in the 
least aggressive until recently when a small flock gave an entirely different 
demonstration. While on the way to the Planetarium several gulls were 
observed circling and hovering over one spot in the lagoon south of the 
driveway. First thought was that they were feeding on a school of min- 
nows, but we soon saw the head of a grebe come up, only to be met by a 
diving attack from the Bonapartes. The grebe, a Holboell’s as well as we 
could determine at the distance, repeatedly sank or dived to avoid them, 
but did not swim away under water, coming to the surface again at almost 
the same spot. Some distance farther away another group was going 
through the same performance with what appeared to be a second grebe. 
The Bonapartes continued to force the grebes to submerge until they finally 
took wing and left the lagoon to find peace and quiet. The gulls had suc- 
ceeded in what definitely was a determined effort by the flock to drive the 
grebes away from their vicinity. In no study of the habits of the Bonaparte 
gull have I found any account of them as quarrelsome, or as other than 
“good neighbors,” though I have been told of a case where they attacked 
mergansers in a manner similar to the one described. Were these unusual, 
or were they trying to live up to the aggressive reputation of their famous 
namesake? 
fi ff ft 
THE ARCTIC TERN without doubt enjoys more daylight than any other living 
creature. It spends our summer season in the far north where it sees the 
midnight sun, and in the extreme of its migration reaches the region of 
longest days at the tip of South America. 
