Page:Condor17(4).djvu/17

July, 1915 WOODPECKERS OF TIIE ARIZONA LOWLANDS 159 merely on the job, and surely "on the peek". A new-looking hole in a cot- tonwood stump only five feet from the ground was noticed, and quietly ap- proaching, I placed my fingers over the entrance. I soon received a vigorous peck from the lady of the house who was "coming up" with a mouth full of sawdust. I took her by the chin and drew her as gently as possible from the hole, but after petting her awhile, released her, for she made more noise than a sitting hen. Mr. Pinkley at the Casa Grande Ruins showed me a giant cac- tus that had been moved to their yard from a distance of a quarter of a mile. The cactus at the time of removal contained a nest of young woodpeckers, and the mother followed it up and raised the family to maturity, with exception of one youngster that became impaled on a thorn at the entrance to the nest. The young are fed by the parents for a long time after leaving the nest. and they a?e regular little beggars. One pair stayed around our house for several months, and became quite tame. They were missed during the breed- ing season but soon came back with three youngsters to share the good things found on the bird tables in the - yard. The young, although as large as their parents, would flutter their wings : and sit with open beak as - though the old ones told them " to "open your mouth and shut your eyes", etc. The "? old ones would try to get them to eat watermelon placed on the tables, but the babies would not be shown; the parents had to put it in their mouths. They followed the parents from perch to perch, begging for food until I expected to see them chas- rig. [58. YOUNG ?IOCKINGBIBD AND GILA WOOD- tised. The pair in question PECKER QUABRELING OVEB A SLICE OF WATEB- stayed with the three jure- ?rLO?. nals until they had them broken to eat for themselves, and then left. After a ])roper interval they came back with two more young ones, thus indicating that a second brood is sometimes raised. The abundant supply of food may have been a determining factor in the number of broods raised. The Gila Woodpecker is so prone to adapt himself to different kinds of food that he seems fitted to persist in the face of settlement and civilization. Lack of suitable nesting sites might be thought to prove a stumbling block, but any old stump appears to answer, no matter whether high or low, so that difficulty might be surmounted. He might prove a pest to certain fruits if present in sufficient numbers, but that danger is remote, though I have known several to suffer through too much devotion to the succulent peach and pear. The Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes caret collaris) spends the fall, winter, and the early spring months in this neighborhood but is absent during the breeding season. He usually appears the first week in September, the earliest