WOODl'ECKERS 



i6i 



with pale red (sometimes wholly pale red, like frontal 

 region) ; cliin and upper throat, similar but jialer (some- 

 times pale red or tinged with tlie same), passing behind 

 into pale yellowish smoke-grayish oti chest, breast, and 

 sides; middle of abdomen, red, tliis color sometimes 

 tingeing the breast, etc. ; flanks and under tail-coverts, 

 white, barred or streaked with black or with \'-shapcd 

 markings of the same, the while ground color usually 

 tinged with dull yellowish ; bill, blackish or slate-l)lack- 

 ish ; iris, varying from ferruginous to scarlet. Adult 

 Fem.\i.e: Similar to the adult male, but llic red of the 

 head n-slriclrd lo tin- hack of lirad and red of abdo- 

 men usually much paler as well as more restricted. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually in a dead limb or 

 tree 15 to '10 leet from ground. Eutis : 3 to 6, usually 

 4 or 5, white. 



Distribution. — Hastern United States ; north, regu- 

 larly, to Delaware, central and western New York, 

 southwestern Ontario, southern Michigan, southern 

 Wisconsin, and southeastern Minnesota, irregularly or 

 casually to northern New York, Connecticut, and 

 Massachusetts; west to southeastern South Dakota, 

 eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas. Oklahoma, west 

 central Texas, etc.. casually to Colorado ; south to 

 southern Florida and along Gulf coast to central Texas; 

 accidental in .•\rizona. 



In many parts of llic Uiiiiid .Stalis all ihc 

 Woodpeckers that have a plumage mainly black, 

 and more or le.;s spotted with white, are col- 

 lectively called " Sapsuckers." The Red-bellied 

 \\'oodi)ecker is one of several species to which 

 this name is incorrectly applied; Chad is also a 

 common api)ellation in some of the middle west- 

 ern Slates. In the South, where apparently it 

 reaches its greatest abundance, the bird is con- 

 stantly met with, whether one journeys through 

 the pine barrens, or among the heavy growths 

 of deciduous trees that constitute the " ham- 

 mocks " surrounding many of the ponds and 

 lakes. It is a bird equally at home in the un- 

 broken forests or about the plantations wherever 

 trees are found. In llight it exhibits to some 

 extent the characteristic galloping, undulating 

 movement peculiar to most members of the 

 family, and upon alighting often gives voice to 

 the harsh, brassy cry of chad, chad, from which 

 one of its local names has been acquired. 



The nest is of the usual Woodpecker type, 

 being made in a hole excavated generally in a 

 dead tree or limb. .Sometimes a jiair will take 



possession of a cavity already com])leted by some 

 other Wood])ecker, and while such action may 

 involve a moral cpiestion. it at least indicates a 

 disposition to conserve physical effort which by 

 many is to-day rated high among the vital re- 

 sources of our country. 



Only one element in the food of the Red- 

 bellied Wood]iecker has much economic signifi- 

 cance. The bird evinces a decided taste for fruit, 

 and sometimes injures orchards, as in Florida 

 orange groves. On several occasions, when in 

 that State, I have seen these birds engaged in 

 eating oranges still on the trees. The contents 

 of the stomachs examined by the Biological Sur- 

 vey, however, show that wild fruits are the 

 favorites, and probably only when these have 

 been replaced by cultivated ones is any mischief 

 done. Orange pulji was not positively identified 

 in any stomach, though quite a number were 

 collected in Florida during the orange season. 

 Only a little of the grain eaten is taken when it 

 is a loss to the farmer. In its animal food the 

 bird is almost entirely beneficial, as the insects 

 eaten are largely noxious. T. Gilbert Pe.\rson. 



GOLDEN-FRONTED WOODPECKER 

 Centurus aurifrons (IFar/lcr) 



A. O. U. Number 410 



Other Name. — Golden-front. 



General Description. — Length, 10 inches. Head, 

 yellow ; upper parts, black and white, barred ; under 

 parts, .gray and light yellow. 



Color. — Adult M.\le: Front portion of forehead, 

 cadmium yellow, rear of forehead and front portion of 

 the space over the eye, dull buflfy grayish-white, passing 

 into mouse-gray on sides and back of head, this enclos- 

 ing a crou'n-palch of bright pof^py-red : hindneck. bright 

 orange (sometimes tinged with orange-red) in front, 



passing into yellow or yellowish-orange behind ; back, 

 shoulders, and tipper rump, regularly and sharply 

 barred with black and white, the wing-coverts and 

 secondaries similarly barred, but the white bars rela- 

 tively narrower ; primary coverts and primaries, black, 

 the latter with a white sub-basal patch and. except 

 outermost quills, tipped with white ; lower rump and 

 upper tail-coverts, immaculate white ; tail, black, the 

 lateral feathers tipped with white, the outermost pair 

 with several white spots or indentations along edge of 



