8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



of food supply, and increasing population in a district means 

 the cutting down of trees and the loss of many species of birds 

 to that particular locality. It is not a wilderness bird, like the 

 Yellow-bellied and Hairy Woodpeckers, nor yet as familiar a 

 bird as the Flicker, but a lover of that delectable tract, the re- 

 moter farmland districts, where the shrill and oft-repeated, roll- 

 ing notes of its voice breaks the stillness that broods over the 

 meadow pastures and through the groves of old homesteads. 

 Possibly its retirement from the more crowded districts may be 

 due to its having been persistently shot at, for a bird at once so 

 restless and loud-voiced and with such striking contrast of color 

 would always be a conspicuous object and a target for the pro- 

 fanwn vulgus. Ever in action and ever in evidence in the im- 

 mediate locality that it frequents, it is anything but shy and 

 rarely appears disconcerted, allowing one to approach often 

 within a few feet without betraying any alarm. 



In reply to inquiries directed to a number of members of the 

 Delaware Valley Ornithological Club and others, relative to the 

 distribution of the Red-headed Woodpecker in eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania and southern New Jersey, some notes of much interest 

 have been received. 



It would seem that the bird is never seen in the Pine 

 Barren district of New Jersey and is furthermore a rare species 

 in the western part of the state between the barrens and 

 the Delaware river. Mr. Rhoads has found it occasionally in 

 winter at Haddonfield and at Audubon and Wm. B. Evans at 

 Moorestown. Farther south Mr. Stone reports one seen near 

 Salem, May 7, 1896. At Paterson, N. J., Mr. Josiah H. Clark 

 states that the species is an irregular but rare permanent resi- 

 dent. Sometimes it is tolerably common, in April and May, 

 and nests in June, its favorite site being in telegraph poles 

 along country roads where there is not much travel. 



In Pennsylvania it is much more plentiful and according to 

 Mr. Stone is a bird of the larger valleys and of cultivated areas 

 generally. Over the greater part of Lancaster county it is par- 

 ticularly common, also in Chester coimty, and along the Sus- 

 quehanna and Schuylkill rivers. Mr. Stone writes, "In the 

 higher mountains it seems to extend its range as the primeval 



