216 WOODPECKERS 



eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains ; casual in Utah and southern Ari- 

 zona. 



]\lest. — 8 to 80 feet from the ground in stumps, dead trunks or branches, 

 and on treeless prairies in fence posts and telegraph poles. Eggs : usually 

 4 to 7, white. 



Food. — In summer, insects such as grasshoppers, ants, beetles, flies, 

 and larvae, fruits and berries ; in fall and winter, nuts, wild berries, and 

 small grains. 



The red-headed woodpecker is one of our handsomest birds. Its 

 colors are all keen — the red, glowing red ; the white, snow white; 

 and the black, glossy black. 



In its methods of hunting, like all the members of the genus 

 Melanerpes, it combines the ways of the flycatchers and the wood- 

 peckers that get their food almost wholly from tree trunks and 

 branches. 



In the east, where it depends largely on beechnuts for its fall and 

 winter supplies, its movements are very erratic, its appearance de- 

 pending on the crop. 



407. Melanerpes formicivorus {Swains.}. Ant-eating Wood- 



PECKEK. 



Adult male. — Feathers around base of bill and chin black, bordered by 



band of Avhite or yellow ; crown red ; 

 sides of head, upper parts, and chest 

 band glossy greenish ; blue black chest 

 streaked with white ; rump, wing patch, 

 and belly, white. Adult female : similar, 

 but with a black band separating white 

 or yellow forehead from red crown. 

 Young : similar to adults and with same 

 sexual differences in crown, but colors 

 duller. Wing: 5.30-5.90, tail 3.10-3.60, 

 bill 1.10-1.22. 



Bemarks. — The squarish white patch 

 on the forehead is enough to distinguish 

 the formicivorus group from all other 

 woodpeckers, 

 pj r,o<, Distribution. — Breeds in Lower Tran- 



sition zone from Texas to Arizona, and 

 south to Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. 



Nest. — Usually in white oaks, but also in pines. Eggs : 4 or 5, white. 

 Food. — Principally acorns, but also fruit, flies, ants, beetles, and 

 grasshoppers. 



One of the most pleasantly familiar sounds in the live-oak belt in- 

 habited by formiciwms and its allies is the ja-coh, ja-coh, ja-cob, 

 ^a-coh uttered by these handsome woodpeckers as they fly from tree 

 to tree, their white rump and wing patches showing as they go. In 

 coming down from the fir forests of the mountains where the only 

 visible woodpeckers have fled silently before you, the soft cheery 

 voices of these birds have a friendly ring grateful to the ear. They 



