WOODPECKERS 



157 



accused of eating nearly every variety of culti- 

 vated fruit from strawberries to oranges, of 

 pecking corn from the ear, of eating the eggs of 

 pouhrv and ])igt'ons, of pecking open the skulls 

 antl ilL-\ouring the brains of ycnmg poultry, and 

 of destroying the eggs or young of Eave Swal- 

 lows and other birds. These accusations are well 

 grounded, but the habits arc i)robably only local. 

 These reports have been received from luuidreds 

 of localities, but in thousands of other places 

 where the bird abounds no such acts have been 

 observed. Stomach exrunination confirms to 

 some extent the corn-eating habit, and to a less 

 degree the fruit-eating, but fails entirely to show 

 that the bird habitually eats young birds or eggs. 

 XMiere this bird has done appreciable harm, it 

 has ])robably been due to new and unusual con- 

 ditions likely to be temporary. In its animal food 

 the Red-head does a little harm theoretically by 

 its destruction of predatory beetles, but the harm- 



ful sijccies eaten are enough to balance this. On 

 the whole, there seems to be no reason to con- 

 (linm this Woodpecker except under very 

 uiui--ual ciiuditions. T- Ellis P.uunicK. 



Phot. I l.y Ah, ,11,1 n.ls Courti'sy of .M;it. Asso. Aud. Soc. 

 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 

 Feeding on the ralhng of veranda 



ANT-EATING WOODPECKER 

 Melanerpes formicivorus formicivorus (Szcainson) 



A. O. U. Number 407 



General Description. — Leiigtli, ij'/, inches. Upper 

 parts, green ; under parts, black, green, and white. 



Color. — ■.'\dult Male: Nasal tufts, front of cheeks, 

 chin, and upper throat, black ; forehead and rather 

 narrow band across front of lores to middle or 

 rear of cheeks white, passing into pale sulphur- 

 yellow on lower throat and foreneck ; crown, back of 

 head, and nape, bright poppy-red ; span around eyes, 

 sides of head, sides of neck, upper chest, lower hind- 

 neck, back, and shoulders, plain glossy greenish blue- 

 black ; wings, black or brownisli-black. the coverts 

 margined with glossy greenish blue-black, the primaries 

 (except three or four outermost) with a basal patch of 

 white, occupying both webs (but interrupted by the 

 black shaft), this white area broader on inner quills; 



rump and upper tail-coverts, immaculate white; tail, 

 entirely black; lower chest and sides of upper breast, 

 glossy greenish blue-black streaked with white (the 

 upper chest akso sometimes streaked, at least in center) 

 the remaining under parts, white, the lower breast 

 (except centrally), sides, and flanks streaked with black, 

 the under tail-coverts with narrow shaft-streaks of the 

 same; bill, black; iris, variable in color (pinkish, white, 

 bluish, brownish, or yellow). Adult Female: Sim- 

 ilar to the adult male, but croicn glossv greenish blue- 

 black. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually in an oak or a 

 pine tree. Eggs : 4 or 5. white. 



Distribution. — Western North America from Oregon 

 and western Texas to Panama. 



The Ant-eating Woodpecker and its larger 

 brother, the California Woodpecker {Melanerpes 

 formicivorus bairdi), conspicuous and gay in their 

 scarlet caps, glossy blue-black coats, and black 

 and white striped waistcoats, are famous for 

 their curious habit of boring holes in trees (often 

 a dead redwood) and filling the holes with 

 acorns. So zealous are these birds, that often 

 when trees in the proper condition for punctur- 

 ing are not numerous enough, they attack build- 

 ings and drill holes in the corners of houses or 

 in the spires of churches. Telegraph and tele- 

 phone poles and fence-posts are often used as 

 an outlet for their energies. 



This habit presents several interesting aspects. 

 In the first place, and from the purely luechanical 

 viewpoint, it is noticeable that the birds evi- 

 dently have an accurate idea of the necessary 

 relationship between the size of the hole and the 

 size of the acorn. Now, a mouse has been 

 known to struggle long and patiently at the im- 

 possible task of pushing or pulling through a 

 hole in a wall, a walnut which was larger than 

 the hole. .-\nd with all his general intelligence, 

 a dog will try and keep on trying to fetch through 

 a paling fence a stick much longer than the space 

 between the palings. On the other hand, the 

 House ^^'^ren and other birds which build in 



