Red-headed Woodpecker at Camden, N. J. 



By JULIAN K. POTTER 



RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 



Photographed March, 1912, by G. A. 



Bailey, at Genesee, N. Y. 



PREVIOUS to 1 910, I had seen the 

 Red-headed Woodpecker in this locality 

 as a migrant only; but in June of that 

 year a pair nested, and successfully raised a 

 brood in a patch of woods directly on the 

 Delaware River. In November, 1910, 1 located 

 another pair which were wintering in a grove 

 about two miles back from the river, within 

 the city limits, and for the past nine months 

 have seldom failed to see these birds when 

 passing through the locality they frequented. 

 As early as February 26, 1911,1 saw one of 

 the Woodpeckers fighting with two StarUngs 

 over the possession of a hole in a dead maple 

 tree, w^hich the Woodpecker, I think, used as a 

 roosting-place. Whether this site would have 

 been used for a nesting-place or not, I cannot say, for, unfortunately, the tree 

 was cut down a short time after. This was the only time I observed the Star- 

 lings interfering with the Redheads, although there were a number of pairs 

 in the vicinity, and four pairs had nests within twenty-five yards of the Wood- 

 peckers' nest, which I first located on May 21, in the dead top of a maple tree, 

 about thirty feet from the ground. On this date the old birds were feeding their 

 young, and from this time on I kept as close watch of the birds as circumstances 

 would permit, and made a number of interesting notes. The young birds left 

 the nest about June 25. On that day I saw them out in the open, quite able 

 to take care of themselves, although the parents fed them occasionally. I 

 thought this would be the only brood raised, since the pair I observed in 1910 

 raised but a single brood ; so I was quite surprised, when passing the old nest- 

 ing-tree on July 23, to see a parent bird enter the hole with something in its 

 bill. I came to the conclusion that another brood was being raised, and found 

 that I had surmised correctly when, on July 30, I heard the unmistakable 

 squeaking of the young birds. Meanw-hile the young of the first brood were 

 being very much misused by their parents, and were driven away whenever 

 they came in sight; in fact they were persecuted to such an extent that they 

 must have been driven from the locality, for I was unable to find them after 

 July 30. By August 6, the young of the second brood were able to climb to 

 the entrance of their home and survey the outside world. It was at this time 

 I discovered that one of the young had a triangular blotch of red back of each 

 eye, otherwise the coloration was the same as usual. On August 16, when I 

 visited the nest, I saw the long, sleek head of a Starling extending from the 



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