THE RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. Ay 
No. 151. 
RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 
A. O. U. No. 395. Dryobates borealis (Vieill.). 
Description.—Adult male: Crown and hind neck glossy black, continuous 
across lores with malar stripe which is produced behind, breaking up on sides of 
breast into heavy black spots; auriculars broadly silky white, bordered above nar- 
rowly and posteriorly with bright scarlet “cockades” ; touches of white on nostrils, 
at base of lower mandible on sides, and over and behind eye; remaining upper 
parts brownish dusky, heavily spotted and cross-banded with white; tail blackening, 
the outer feathers irregularly barred with white; under parts white, immaculate 
on chin and throat, elsewhere sordid; heavily spotted with black or dusky on sides 
of breast, sides, flanks, and crissum; bill bluish black, small for size of bird. 
Adult female: Similar but without scarlet cockades. Length 8.00-8.50 (203.2- 
215.9); measurements of the Columbus specimen: wing 4.80 (122.); tail 3.23 
(82.) ; bill 86 (21.8). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size; intermediate between Hairy and 
Downy; narrow scarlet stripes (1-3 of an inch long by 1-10 broad) on sides of 
hind head distinctive. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, in hole of pine tree at considerable 
heights. Eggs, 4-6, white. Av. size, .93 x .69 (23.6 x 17.5). 
General Range.—The south-eastern United States, west to eastern Texas 
sylvania (Coues) and Ohio. 
Range in Ohio.—One record, Columbus. 
A specimen, found by Professor Hine, in the O. 5. U. collection, bears 
the following label, in the well-known hand-writing of Dr. Jasper: Obverse 
—Picus borealis. Red Cockated (sic) Woodpecker. March 15. 1872. 
Loc. Columbus, O.”; Reverse-—“It was in company with another of its own 
kind and 2 or 3 Sapsuckers, Nuthatches, ete., and shot from a high tree 
between Canal and Scioto Rivers.” 
The appearance recorded above marks the northernmost extension of the 
species. The bird was evidently trying to do something to justify the name 
borealis, so unwisely bestowed upon it by Vieillot in 1807. 
“This species is a common inhabitant of the ‘piny woods.’ It prefers 
the higher branches of the trees, and frequently hangs head downward while 
feeding ona cone at the extremity of a branch. Its call note suggests the 
yank, yank, of the White-bellied Nuthatch, but is louder, hoarser, and not 
so distinctly enunciated” (Chapman). 
