110 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



miBated by these pests. (See "Ornithologist and Oologist," Vol 8, July, 1883, 

 p. 56.) To these instances I will now add my own testimony, if further con- 

 firmation of the evil doings of this handsome freebooter is wanted. 



On the evening of July 1, 1892, while walking with Dr. William L. Ralph 

 along the border of an open piece of mixed woods, used as a pastm-e, near 

 Holland Patent, New York, we noticed a Red-headed Woodpecker take some- 

 thin o-, apparently a bunch of moss, from a crotch of a maple and carry it to a 

 fence post of an adjacent field. After worrying some time in trying to swallow 

 something rather too large for his gullet, he finally succeeded, after an effort, and 

 then worked some little time, evidently trying to secrete the remainder. Both 

 of us had our field glasses and were watching the bird's actions closely. After 

 some little time he flew back to the tree he had started from, while we pro- 

 ceeded to the fence post to investigate, and, much to our disgust and surprise, we 

 found the freshly killed and partly eaten body of a young bird, almost denuded 

 of feathers, securely tucked away behind the loose bark of the post. His 

 victim was too much mutilated to identify positively, Init looked like a half-grown 

 Bluebird, whose head had been crushed in, the brain abstracted, and the entire 

 ■rump and entrails torn out; the only parts left intact were the breast, upper part 

 of the back, and the lower portion of the head. The missing parts had evidently 

 just been eaten by the rascal while clinging to the top of the post, and the rem- 

 nant was then hidden for future use. After carefully replacing this as nearly as 

 possible in the position in which it was found, we returned; but I was interested 

 enouo-h to re\nsit the spot next morning, only to find that the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker had evidently been there before me and breakfasted on the 

 remains of the bird, as not a vestige of the victim was there to tell of the 

 tragedy. It is sincerely to be hoped that all Red-headed Woodpeckers are 

 not addicted to cannibalism ; but when this matter is looked into more carefully 

 I fear that this habit will be found not uncommon. 



Its flight, like that of all Woodpeckers, is undulating and surging, and the 

 bird looks especially graceful and pleasing on the wing. It is an adept fly- 

 catcher, and its vision is exceedingly sharp. A considerable portion of its food 

 is picked up from the ground. I have seen one drop down from his perch on 

 some dead limb, fully 20 feet overhead, pick up a small beetle out of the grass, 

 fly back to its perch to eat it, and repeat the same performance as soon as 

 another was espied. I have also seen them cling to the side of a tree or fence 

 post, perfectly motionless, for fifteen minutes at a time. 



Dr. Wiliiam L. Ralph tells me that the Red-headed Woodpecker is the 

 latest of these birds to arrive on its breeding grounds in Putnam County, 

 Florida, where it rarely begins lapng before May 1. It undoubtedly spends 

 the winters in some other part of the State where the food supply is more 

 abundant. It is known to breed throughout the Si)uth, from Florida westward 

 through the eastern half of Texas, and to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains 

 where it is fairly common, in suitable localities, from Colorado northward, lint it 

 has not yet been found in New Mexico. In the South it is stated to raise two 



