46 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



color of the wings. In calls and general behavior, in food 

 and nesting habits there is but little difference except in the 

 eggs, which are smaller and darker blue in the Black-billed. 

 Both species arrive from the winter quarters about the first 

 of May and withdraw at the same time, about the first of 

 October. 



RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. Melanerpes erythrocephalus. 



The Woodpecker family is sparsely represented in the Gar- 

 den during the breeding season. The Downy and the Hairy 

 visit the Garden in winter and the Yellow-belUed Wood- 

 pecker in spring and fall, but the beautiful Redhead and the 

 hardly less showy Flicker are the only summer guests and 

 even these are not as plentiful as one would wish. Both 

 species seek the friendship of man and deserve it not only 

 from an esthetic point of view, but also from that of utility. 

 The Redhead may go for a little fruit in the orchard, especially 

 cherries, but it deserves every one by its great help in keeping 

 down injurious insects. Red, white and black, in large pat- 

 tern, is the festive garb of the Redhead and a jolly good 

 fellow it is, always ready for play and frolic. Sometimes it 

 beats the drum a little too early in the morning on the roof 

 of our suburban homes, but we readily forgive the disturber 

 when we see how much confidence he places in us by chisel- 

 ing his nest hole fearlessly where all can see it. 



A few winter with us, but the great mass comes to us about 

 April 20, when after a favorable night their long-forsaken old 

 haunts are populated again and their loud gutteral croaks 

 are heard everywhere. As mysterious as their arrival in 

 spring is their departure in fall, when about the middle of 

 September their haunts are deserted, though the day before 

 Redheads were as numerous and noisy as ever, 



NORTHERN FLICKER. Colaptes auratus luteus. 



Few birds are better known than the Flicker. This is 

 proved by the many common names by which it is known to 

 different people. Some call it High-holder or Yellowhammer, 



