Across the Fields. 265 



The Red-headed Woodpecker is about nine inches and a half long. 



Adult birds have a hood over the head, neck, and breast of deep red, 

 Red-headed almost crimson. The back and the major portions of each 

 Woodpecker, wing are bluish black. A large spot on each wing, formed 



Meianerpes erythrocephaius by the terminal half of its smaller feathers, and the rump 



(Linn.)- ^ 



and feathers above the tail are white. The tail is black, 

 each feather having more or less white on its tips and edges. The chest, belly, 

 and feathers below the tail are white. The belly is often tinged with reddish. 



Immature birds present a similar general pattern but are colored quite 

 differently. The red hood is replaced by a mottled one of dusky brown, 

 sometimes having a red feather here and there. The blue of the back is not 

 so rich as in the adults and is barred with ashy. The wings are more dusky 

 like the tail, and the white area on them is replaced by feathers, marked or 

 barred irregularly with black and white. The chest and belly are grayish 

 white streaked more or less, especially on the sides, with dusky. 



The birds nest in the characteristic woodpecker way, generally choosing 

 dead trees in which to excavate holes to breed in. Four white eggs are laid 

 about an inch long and three quarters of an inch broad. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker is distributed through Eastern North 

 America west to the Rocky Mountains. They breed on the coast locally 

 from Florida to Northern New York and in the interior as far north as 

 Manitoba. They winter regularly from Southern New Jersey southward 

 and occasionally are found farther north in that season. 



The Red-headed Woodpeckers are decided features in the bird world. 

 They feed on insect larvae as do most woodpeckers but also catch flying in- 

 sects much after the fashion of flycatchers. They subsist on beechnuts in 

 the coldest winter weather and are almost as fond of fruits and berries in the 

 autumn as are their larger relative the Flicker. They are active cheerful birds 

 at all times and much given to uttering their prolonged rolling call notes 

 during their work. 



On the prairies of Florida, in Polk, De Soto, and Manatee Counties, 



there is found a race of Owls which live in burrows in the ground, where 



_, . . „ . they breed. They are the prototypes and close relatives 



Florida Burrowing , , „ , ^ i t^ • • V^ ^ r i • r 



Q . 01 the Owls of the rrairie Uog 1 owns oi the interior ot 



spcotyto cunicuiaria flori- North Amcrica. They are locally common, sometimes 



living in communities of considerable size and extent, and 



dana (Ridgw.). 



