299 



I have often seen the results of atrocious acts committed 

 by these birds^, in the shape of devastated homes of other 

 birds, and once I saw a pair of them perform the act. It 

 was in an old Virginia swamp where many tall, whitened, 

 naked tree trunks were still standing. Two pairs of the 

 woodpeckers were in evidence; I had found the nest of one 

 of them, about twenty feet above ground in one of these 

 dead trees. 



Many Brown-headed Nuthatches were also nesting there, 

 and I had located one of their nests, — high up, where I 

 could not get to it. They were very busy carrying food to 

 little birds, through the little round hole in the trunk that 

 led to their dwelling. One day as I was about fifty yards 

 away from this tree, I saw one pair of the Red-heads sweep 

 by with their usual undulating flight and alight beside the 

 Nuthatch home. Evidently the cavity was shallow, for each 

 woodpecker, in turn, reached his head in and pulled out a 

 squirming little nuthatch. The female bore her prize away 

 to her own nest, but the male took his to a near tree, pulled 

 it to pieces and ate it himself. 



Of course it is but for a short season that these wood- 

 peckers are destructive to the young and eggs of other birds. 

 During the rest of the year they are useful in destroying a 

 great many wood-borers, larvae, etc. They have the habit, 

 shared by many birds that migrate little if at all, of storing 

 up supplies of food for future use. They often conceal 

 nuts in crevices in bark or in holes that they may make for 

 that purpose. Of course some other bird has just as good 

 a chance of eating the hoard as the one that stored it, but 

 he, on the other hand, also uses goods stored by other in- 

 dividuals. 



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 



Here we have another type of woodpecker. The Flicker 

 has a sticky tongue, perfectly adapted for catching the ants 

 it likes so well. The Red-headed Woodpecker has a tongue. 



