18? THt? CONDOR Vol. XVI! and stopped to watch the birds flying through the air after insects. Sometimes they flew out in big circles, returning, flycatcher-fashion, to the wire from which they started. Sometimes they went straight up into the air and tumbled back, at times catching themselves suddenly in their downward flight, and darting forward. ! thought, as ! watched them, how remarkably graceful they were for woodpeckers, and how much they foraged like the true flycatchers. It was be- ginning to get dark and ! was passing on when, to my amazement, one of the birds flew to the pole and fed something within. As ! listened ! knew that my eyes had not deceived me, but that, unusual or not, there were young in that nest. The next day, from three until four r. M., ! watched at the pole and re- corded the actions of the birds. ! soon noticed that a woodpecker was resting on the wire above the nest, and that two others were busy feeding. This resting bird was a trifle smaller and the black breast-band was more marked with white. In some indescribable way ! was impressed with the idea that it was an immature bird. Presently it flew away and ! thought no more about its presence until all three came to the wires at once and after two of them had fed and left, this third mysterious bird went into the hole and stayed there. It was the habit of the adults to fly about in the neighborhood, inspecting the poles, or to fly through the air, for most of their food. Sometimes they were out of sight, but they did not stay long. When a bird came, he, or she, popped into the nest, stayed a minute and came out, sometimes giving the ja-cob call, which both used. After this third woodpecker had gone into the pole-nest, ! kept my eyes riveted upon it so as to know how long the bird stayed in there. When the adults came to feed they did not go inside but reached over, fed, and flew away. Three times one of them did this, but tl?e fourth time, when the'male came, he stood on one side of the hole and ! heard him give low, guttural notes. It seemed quite evident that he was saying: "See here, you young scamp, it is high time that you were coming out of there. Let me get in and attend to your brothers and sisters, as I should." Presently, the truant young, for such he proved to be, ap- peared in the doorway and, with open mouth, begged for just one bite. "Please don't scold, father dear," I felt sure'he was saying, "it was so nice and cozy down there and the children were glad to have me,--really they were." But the old bird was unrelenting and stayed in his position by the hole until the bird inside, which was undoubtedly a former nestling, came out and flew onto the wire above, when the adult male went within. Jus? to prove that he was not all baby, the former nestling turned in and helped feed. Several times he went into the hole and came directly out, and I might have thought that he was in there in hopes of getting fed had I not dis- tinctly seen a big fly in his bill as he entered. Each time as he bobbed into the hole several white bars showed plainly on the underside of the outer tail feathers. It was this marking of a young bird which convinced me that he was a former nestling. In every other respect he resembled a male California Woodpecker. Once more, during my watching, he slipped into the nest, staying eight minutes before they got him out. The first time it had been twenty minutes. In an hour's watching the birds fed 28 times, the sho?est interval being one: half minute, the longest eight. In nine minutes they fed eight times. On the 15th of the month, when I believe the young must have been about ten days old, they were fed 24 times in 58 minutes. The food given them now was mostly acorns which the adults took from the nearby poles, sometimes dig- ging them out in pieces, and sometimes taking them to the top of a fiat pole
