Picoides arcticus. 1879. Maino (Lake Umbagog). (June 4) a dead fir stub in mixed fir and spruce woods bordering the River. This Woodpecker is one of the finest and most vigo- rous of the family, always alert, active, and energetic. " 13. Visiting the nest on Cambridge River this morning, I found the parent birds coming to it at frequent inter- vals with food for the young who appeared at the entrance to receive it keeping up an incessant chatter that could be heard at least a hundred yards off. In no instance did either parent enter the hole; they simply clung be- neath it placing the morsel in one of the hungry mouths that fringed the opening. " 17. Visited the nest on Cambridge River. One of the young was looking out of the hole and all were chattering like a host of Kingfishers, their clamor being literally incessant. They seemed to be nearly full grown and the foremost showed the orange crown-patch distinctly. " 21. Visited the nest on Cambridge River this morning and found that the entire family had gone. Saw two adults to-day behind the lake house, their note is ex- tremely like the cluck of the Crow Blackbird. [was in coll. 3721] 1880. May 19. Set B-4. Incubated a few days--red maple stub over water--five feet. Stub standing in six feet of wa- ter twenty yards from the shore, bordered here by a heavy growth of arbor-vitae. The hole was near the base of the stub which was about twenty feet high. The female was sitting and popped out her head as we approached, after a moment, flew to a neighboring tree. She soon returned alighting just below the entrance, peeped in, and then entered, struggling as if the hole were a tight fit. Paddling noiselessly to the tree I inserted my handkerchief in the entrance. When I put in my fingers she would peck them fiercely, driving her powerful bill to the bone at every blow and uttering a curious rattling cry not unlike that of the Kingfisher. At length I al- lowed her to come out, holding my hand near the hole in the hope of catching her, but she slipped through my fin- gers, at once flying to the woods and not returning again. Soon after the male appeared and without apparent suspi- cion entered the hole. We enclosed him in the same way, but more timid than his mate, he would not come to the entrance. Accordingly we cut through the trunk a little above the eggs, and I took him from them with my hand. He uttered the same rattling cry as the female, but made absolutely no resistance, and even refused to strike at my hand even when I held it in front of his bill.