_Phloeotomus pileatus pileatus_
Next to the nearly extinct Ivory-bill this is the
largest of our Woodpeckers. (L. 17.) Both sexes
have a flaming red crest (reaching the forehead in
the male) the remainder of the plumage being
black, with the throat, a stripe from the bill
down the sides of the neck, and the basal half of
the wing-feathers white; bill horn-color.
_Range._ Southeastern and Gulf States, north to
North Carolina. The Northern Pileated Woodpecker
(_P. p. abieticola_) is found thence northward
into Canada and west to the Pacific. It is a
larger bird, with the white areas larger.
In the south the Pileated is by no means rare and seems not averse to
the presence of man; but in the north he retires to the wilder forested
areas and we are apt to see him only when we go a-camping. And he is
well worth seeing with his flaming crest and powerful bill which, used
either as a chisel or drum-stick, produces impressive results. Strangely
enough the Pileated's notes resemble those of the Flicker but are
louder.
The nest is usually well up; the 3-5 white eggs are laid in April in the
south, in May in the north.