84 'J K'i:i'oKi' oi" Stai'K (iKoi.oiiisr. 



Iti August thoy often hegin io disappear Ironi their aecustometl 

 places. My. V. H. Bariiett informs me that on tlie night of October 

 30, 1897. at 8:15 p. m., he heard the Eed-headed AVoodpecker and 

 some warblers flying sonth. 



The Eed-headed Woodpecker luis the greatest range of food of our 

 species. At times its chief food is fruit; for another period it may be 

 chiefly insects: again, it will live on nuts and cere.ils. Of 101 

 stomachs reported upon by the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, 50 per cent, contained animal matter; 17 per cent, vegetable 

 matter; 3 per cent, mineral matter. The animal matter wa-s insects, 

 of which there were found ants, wasps, beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, 

 moths, caterpillars, spiders, and myriapods. Ants amounted to about 

 11 per cent.; beetles, nearly one-third, and grasshoppers and crickets, 

 6 per cent. Seventeen, collected from ]\lay to September, had eaten 

 corn, one had eaten strawberries: 15, blackberries, raspberries; '2, culti- 

 vated cherries; 4, apples; 6, pears (Beal, Bulletin No. 7. Div. 0. and 

 M., pp. 34. 25). Prof. Forbes found that of these birds he examined, 

 32 per cent, of their food was canker worms (Eep.]\[ich. Hort. Soc, 

 1881, p. 204). This Woodpecker seems to be able to adapt itself to 

 any circumst<ances. Tt has been accused of robbing birds of their eggs, 

 and I have seen it Civtchiug insects ;ifti>r the uumuer of n flycatcher. 

 AVhile it eats some fruit, except berrit>s ;u)d cherries, it ents too small 

 an amount to ainouiil to much, (^n tlu' ctmtrary. its insect-eating, 

 in which it destroys many large tieetles ajid quantities of grasshoppers, 

 imilvcs it a very beneficial bird ordinarily. 



Besides, from the variety of its foods, it is a valuable factor in a 

 t'ontest with any unusual increase (<f old or (be suddiMi a])]iearance of 

 new insect foes. 



Subgenus Cknti ki s Swainscn. 



'•"leS. (409). Melanerpes carolinus (Linn.). 



Red-bellied "Woodpecker. 



Synonyms. Giinka WoonrECKER, Zeiuia WoonrixKEK, Cakoi.tna WooivPEeKEK, 

 Cheokerkd WoonrECKER. 



Adult Male. — Above, crown and nape, scarlet; back and wings, ex- 

 cept larger quills, regularly barred \\ith black and white; primaries 

 and secondaries, chiefly black, the former mostly white at base, the 

 latter spotted with white; rump, chiefly white; sides of head and 

 under parts, grayish-white, sometimes with yellowish tinge; belly, 

 Mashed with reddish: outtM- tail feathers, black and white barred; 



