1979 Walter D. Koenig Melanerpes formicivorus School Hill (14 September) the nest at 1030, which still showed no sign of hatching. I also examined the eggs, 2 of which (2 & 4) looked opaque and good, while #1 appeared not to have developed. There were 3 birds in the area this morning, presumably indicating that 8402 was back up here somewhere. He did not come to the nest, however. 1745 Flushed the ♀ out of the nest to check in: still 3 eggs and no sign of hatching as far as can be seen through the mirrored mirror. 15 September 830. Flushed a bird from the hole to check the nest: still 3 eggs with no overt sign of hatching. 1800. Still 3 eggs and no sign of hatching. Looks bad. 16 September 1400. Flushed the ♀ from the hole - still 3 warm, unhatched eggs. 17 September 730. Finally! Egg #4 has hatched, leaving a baby weighing 3.9 gm. Egg #2, meanwhile, is pipping, and will hatch within the next several hours. Egg #1 is not going to hatch, as expected. I marked the baby with several spots of white-out on his skull, left wing, and left femur for identification later. 19 September 630. Checked the nest, which has 2 babies and the unhatched egg still. Note: the baby who hatched first out of the last- laid egg (#4) already (?) weighs less than the latter baby who hatched out of egg #2 (for sure). Both were marked with more white out (which did not work very well, but only well enough to identify the 1st baby after close examination) and returned. 21 September 1300. Checked the nest, weighing the 2 babies, removing the 3rd, unhatched egg (#1), and putting a band on the larger baby.