Howell, T.R. 1948 Sphyrapicus varius daggetti 8 mi. N. and 13 mi. W. of Canby, 4700 ft. Modoc Co, Calif. May 22 (cont'd.) so later. Bird A stayed for 10 minutes, excavating occasionally. Bird B came in about 5 minutes after A left, stayed 15 minutes and did quite a bit of excavating and occasional preening. Then B left and so did I. My guess is that these two are a mated pair excavating a nesting hole in the dead yellow pine tree. Their head patterns are different enough so that I can tell them apart easily, and there is no question but that they alternated at the presumed nesting site as described above. May 23 - same place. I was at the grove at about 6:50 A.M. Weather clear, cool; the sun shone brightly on the entire side of the dead tree in which the suspected nesting hole is located. At 7:05 a Flicker alighted on the tree about half way up the trunk, topped a few times and flew away. This made me reasonably sure that nothing was in the hole or the tapping and scratching would have scared it out. At 7:20 I heard drumming, and again two minutes later. At 7:26 Bird B arrived at the dead tree, perched cross-wise on a short branch, hopped to the trunk, tapped a couple of times, investigated the hole,