Howell, T.R. 1950 S. varius ssp. 29 mi. SW of Princeton ft. British Columbia May 14 (cont'd.) the branch stub of a dead aspen, about 20 ft up. It tattoos repeatedly, finally gets a faint answer at 7:36, about 75 yds away. He continues to tattoo, but no more answers. At 7:44 a ? nuchalis alights on a cottonwood a couple of feet from the dead aspen, right opposite the tattooing ♂. After a moment's pause, he flies at her, and they go chasing off through the trees out of sight. I did not hear any sounds or cries. At 7:45 there is another loud tattoo from the direction in which they went. At 7:50, a bird tattoos from the same branch stub as where the ♂ was, but it is not the same bird. I am practically certain it is a ♀ but I can't be absolutely sure. It has blurred stripes and seems to have a whitish chin. Answering tattoos come from the 2nd spot mentioned above. Tattoos and answers go on for 5 min., and then the ?♀ flies over in the direction of the answers. Silence. Then, as I move on, more tattoos. A couple of hundred yds. further NE is a marshy pond about 1/4 mi. long and about half that wide. There are many aspens around it but I did not hear any sapsuckers. Pine and fir-covered ridges rise steeply on either side of the pond, to the NE and SW. On top of the NE ridge, at 8:40, I saw a nuchalis flying silently from tree to tree. The sun came out fully about 10 min. ago; before then