The great forest fires which have ravaged our State have proved a god-send to the Woodpeckers, altho they are in no way responsible for them. The Pileated Woodpecker does his share in staying the ravages of the wood-working insects, but he is even more interested in the spoliation of fallen logs and so hastens rather than retards decay. A pair of these Woodpeckers will gradually tear a rotten log to pieces in pursuit of the grubs and wood-boring ants which it harbors. They are shy or confiding just in proportion to the amount of persecution which they have been called upon to endure. I have waited half a day trying to get a specimen, and again I have sat under a shower of chips or ogled a busy pair in the open at forty feet.
The Log-cock has a variety of notes, and one who learns them will find the bird much more common than he may have supposed. The most noteworthy of these is a high-pitched stentorian call, which is not exactly laughter, altho something like it in form, hü ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hü. “At a distance this call sounds metallic; but when at close range it is sent echoing thru the forest, it is full and clear, and it is the most untamably wild sound among bird notes.”
Taken in Pierce County. Photo by J. H. Bowles.
PILEATED WOODPECKER LEAVING NEST.
In this connection wish to mention a mysterious sound which I have several times heard in the depths of the western forest, but to whose authorship I have no clew unless it proceeds from this bird. The note comes from well up in the trees, and is repeated slowly, after little intervals, and with a sort of funereal solemnity. If I venture to literate it, the letters are to be thought rather than said,—or better still, thought while whistled in a low key (si) poolk(ng) - - - (si)poolk(ng) - - (si)poolk(ng). Who will “riddle me this mystery”?
The Pileated Woodpecker chisels out its nesting hole at any height in dead timber, whether of fir, pine, spruce, or other. It nests regularly in this State, but the taking of its eggs is something of a feat; so, in default of much-coveted “luck,” we fall back on Bendire[74]: “From three to five eggs are usually laid to a set, but I have seen it stated that the Pileated Woodpecker often laid six, and that a nest found near Farmville, Virginia, contained eight. An egg is deposited daily, and incubation begins occasionally before the set is completed, and lasts about eighteen days, both sexes assisting in the duty, as well as in caring for the young. Like all Woodpeckers the Pileated are very devoted parents, and the young follow them for some weeks after leaving the nest, until fully capable of caring for themselves. Only one brood is raised in a season. The eggs of the Pileated Woodpecker are pure china-white in color, mostly ovate in shape; the shell is exceedingly fine-grained and very glossy, as if enameled.”
No. 176.
LEWIS’S WOODPECKER.
A. O. U. No. 408. Asyndesmus lewisi Riley.
Synonym.—Black Woodpecker.
Description.—Adults: Above shining black with a greenish bronzy luster; “face,” including extreme forehead, space about eye, cheeks, and chin, rich crimson; a collar around neck continuous with breast hoary ash; this ashy mingled intimately with carmine, or carmine-lake, on remaining underparts, save flanks, thighs and crissum, which are black; feathers of nape and underparts black and compact at base but finely dissected on colored portion of tips, each barb lengthened and bristly in character. Bill and feet black; iris brown. Young birds lack the crimson mask and hoary collar; the underparts are gray mingled with dusky below, with skirtings of red in increasing abundance according to age. Length of adult: 10.00-11.00 (254-279.4); wing 6.75 (171.5); tail 4.50 (114.3); bill 1.20 (30.5).
Recognition Marks.—Robin size; shining black above, hoary collar and breast; red mingled with hoary ash on underparts distinctive.
Nesting.—Nest: in hole excavated in dead tree, usually at considerable height. Eggs: 5-9, white, slightly glossed. Av. size, 1.03 × .80 (26.2 × 20.3). Season: third week in May to first week in June; one brood.
General Range.—Western United States from the Black Hills and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and from southern British Columbia to southern Alberta, south to Arizona, and (in winter) western Texas. Casual in Kansas (A. O. U.).
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in timbered sections (Arid Transition and lower Canadian life-zones) east of the Cascades; especially partial to cottonwood timber lining the larger streams; locally distributed or colonizing west of the mountains, chiefly in burns.
Authorities.—[Lewis and Clark, Hist. Ex. (1814), Ed. Biddle; Coues, Vol. II., p. 187]. Melanerpes torquatus, Bonap. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX., 1858, p. 116. T. C&S. L². D¹. Kb. Ra. D². Ss¹. Ss². Kk. J. B. E.
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. C. E.
Not the least strange of the many new creatures discovered by a famous expedition of a hundred years ago was this curious black Woodpecker, which Wilson named torquatus (collared), but which soon became known by the name of the intrepid leader, Captain Meriwether Lewis. In habit and appearance the bird combines Crow, Jay, Woodpecker, Flicker, and Flycatcher. It is perhaps as flycatcher that we know him best, as we see him sail out from the summit of a cottonwood or towering pine-tree and make connection with some object to us invisible. If the insects are flying freely, the bird may conclude to remain aloft for a few minutes, fluttering about in great watchful circles, ready for momentary dashes and adroit seizures. A dozen of his fellows may be similarly engaged in the same vicinity, for Lewis is ever a sociable bird, and when he returns to his perch he will raise a curious raucous twitter, a rasping, grating, obstructed sound, which is his best effort at either conversation or song.
In passing from tree to tree the Woodpecker presents a Crow-like appearance, for it moves with a labored, direct flight, which is quite different from the bounding gait so characteristic of many of its real kinfolk. In alighting, also, the bird is as likely to bring up on top of a limb, in respectable bird-fashion, as to try clinging to the tree trunk.