“I watched the three-toed woodpeckers, from partial concealment near at hand, for an hour and 25 minutes. Each one of them would spend a period of 15 to 20 minutes at their nest cavity, then be relieved by the other. The periods spent at the cavity by the male were somewhat longer than those spent there by the female. While the male was at the cavity, he spent much of his time in excavating, with only his tail and the region of his rump projecting from the opening, but at intervals of a few seconds he would withdraw his body and head from the cavity and look about him. When he was excavating, very little noise could be heard. He spent some time in throwing out chips and some time in resting. When the female was at the cavity, she did very little excavating, so little that it seemed to be a mere gesture. On one occasion, after she had been clinging to the edge of the opening for 10 minutes, she drummed repeatedly, but not loudly, on the outside of the stub beside the opening. I wondered if she were signaling to the male to come to relieve her in guarding the cavity. After 5 minutes of such intermittent drumming, she was relieved at the opening by the male.” Mr. Achilles (1906) describes the nest he found in the Adirondacks as follows: The hole, which was in a spruce tree, faced north by northeast, and was twenty-seven feet one inch from the ground. The spruce retained all its branches and some twigs, although it had been dead for some time. The following dimensions of the hole were taken after the young had left their nest. The entrance to the hole was two inches wide and one and five-eighths inches high. From the outside of the hole, straight through over the top of the nest to the back of the hole, the measurement was five and three-fourths inches. The outside shell, including the bark, was one and three-fourths inches thick. The diameter of the nest opening was three and one-fourth inches, while the diameter of the hole on the inside at the bottom of the shaft, was four and five-eighths inches. The depth of the hole was nine and one-eighth inches. Dr. C. Hart Merriam sent Major Bendire (1895) some notes on two nests that he found in the Adirondacks, as follows: