The Bulletin. 21 



for them to care for their herds of honey-producing cattle. Little 

 has been done, however, to point out the great benefit that accrues to 

 the plant-lice from this relationship. It seems fair to assume that the 

 plant-lice are greatly benefited, else why has the highly specialized 

 apparatus for producing the honey-dew been developed? 



"Writers long ago showed that ants protected plant-lice by driving 

 away from them lady-bugs and other enemies. Recently, however, 

 Professor Forbes has demonstrated that, in certain cases at least, a 

 more important service is rendered. In his studies of the corn plant- 

 louse he found that this species winters in the wingless, agamic form 

 in the earth of previously infested corn-fields, and that in the spring 

 the plant-lice are strictly dependent upon a species of ant, Lasius 

 alienus, which mines along the principal roots of the corn, collects 

 the plant-lice, and conveys them into these burrows, and there watches 

 and protects them. Without the aid of these ants the plant-lice were 

 unable to reach the roots of the corn. On page 631 it is stated : 'Ants 

 take very good care of their cattle (aphids), and will carry them to 

 new pastures if the old ones dry up. They also carry the aphid-eggs 

 into their nest and keep them sheltered during the winter, and then 

 carry the young plant-lice out and put them on plants in the spring.' 



Mr. William Dutcher, president of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, writes: "If the Flicker had no other valuable 

 economic quality, it would deserve protection because it is an enemy 

 of the ant family." 



Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Linn). 



Adult : head, neck and throat red ; general upper plumage bluish black, ex- 

 cept rump, upper tail coverts and portion of wings, which are white; lower 

 breast and belly white. In first plumage young have grayish brown head and 

 neck, and irregular bars of black on white of the wing. Length about 9% 

 inches. 



Range.— Breeds from Florida to New York; winters from Virginia south- 

 ward. 



Nest. — In cavities of trees or poles. 



Eggs. — Four to six, glossy white. 



Throughout the larger portion of North Carolina the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker is a more or less common resident. It inhabits cultivated 

 fields in many places, and its usual perch is on an upright fence stake 

 or a dead tree in some clearing. It is often seen along railroads, 

 where the telegraph poles are used as stations of outlook. This wood- 

 pecker also is found in the towns of the State, particularly those 

 favored with large shade trees. In collecting food it does not, as 

 a rule, traverse the trunks and limbs of trees after the manner of 

 the Downy, or dig in the earth like the Flicker. While at times it 

 catches insects on the bark of trees, and seizes grasshoppers and 

 beetles in the grass, its favorite method of the chase is to dart out 



