RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER 77 



nuthatches, and red-cockadecl woodpeckers in the same woodland and 

 that when sitting quietly and concealed all the species mentioned 

 pass in review before the observer, but probably it is not a true 

 gregariousness that embraces all these various species; rather the 

 restlessness that so frequently seems to possess the avian population 

 of a given tract of woods communicates itself from one to the other 

 and the entire avifauna of a limited patch of woodland begins to 

 move in a certain direction perhaps because of some alarm which 

 has been communicated from one member of the group to the others. 



These woodpeckers are exceedingly active, galloping from one 

 tree to another and rapidly ascending it in quest of food or ap- 

 parently often merely to secure a better observation point some- 

 where near the top of the tree. Their usual custom is to ascend 

 the tree in spirals, although they have frequently been observed 

 to continue a straight course up the trunk particularly when feeding. 

 The bird may be described as wary rather than shy and is most 

 adept at the familiar woodpecker trick of keeping the trunk of the 

 tree between an approaching observer and itself. 



As a rule they do not feed close to the ground, nor have I ever 

 observed one on the ground even after the burning of a woodland, 

 at which time the flicker and the red-bellied woodpecker may both be 

 observed on the ground searching for grubs and insects killed by 

 the blaze. Dr. Irving Phinizy (MS.) states that he has on sev- 

 eral occasions observed the red-cockaded woodpecker descend a tree 

 in a series of backward hops. This the writer has never observed. 

 Arthur H. Howell (1932) states that the ivorybill inches back- 

 ward down a tree, a somewhat different procedure. Frequently also 

 they are observed, particularly when feeding near the top of a pine 

 and out toward the end of a limb, to descend the hanging limb 

 nuthatch fashion. Much of their feeding is done in the highest 

 branches of the trees, and they seem to have a predilection for re- 

 maining there, spending a considerable portion of their time in the 

 very crown of the tree, where they are very difficult to see. 



They are exceedingly quarrelsome, particularly during the breed- 

 ing season, yet their quarrels do not seem to be so serious or so pro- 

 longed as those of the red-headed woodpecker ; and not infrequently, 

 after the lapse of a very little time, birds that have been scold- 

 ing one another most extensively again alight on the same pine 

 tree and go about their respective businesses in perfect amity. 



C. J. Maynard (1896) states, concerning its habits, as follows: 



Wilson called the Cockaded Woodpeckers, Picus querulus, and this seems, at 

 first glance, to be a most appropriate name, for, of all the family, these are 

 not only the most noisy, but their notes are given in a decidedly fretful tone 

 as if the birds were constantly in an irritable state of mind. It must have 

 been upon the impulse of the moment, however, that the Pioneer Ornithologist 



