AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 231 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



A.- O- \/. JVo- 409 {Melanerpej carolinuj.) 



RANGE. 



The United States east of the Rocky Mts. and south of New England, 

 New York, and Michigan. It is seldom found north of these boundaries. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, 9.5 in.; extent, 17 in.; tail, 3.5 in. Eye, reddish brown. Bill 

 and feet, horn color. Top and back of head, crimson red, shading to whit- 

 ish on the forehead. Sides of head and middle of the belly tinged with 

 reddish. Back, wings, and tail, black, closely barred with white. Under 

 parts, dull white. The female differs from the male in plumage in having 

 the red on the head restricted to the back part, the crown being ashy. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



During May, this bird lays from four to six glossy white eggs. They 

 are deposited on the bottom of cavities in almost any variety of tree. 

 They do their own excavating for a nest, and occasionally bore into a 

 sound limb. The entrance when newly made is small and nearly always 

 perfectly round. 



HABITS. 



The subject of this article is one of the most strikingly marked, and cer- 

 tainly is one of the most handsome of the entire Woodpecker family. He 

 has the same general colors that are found on many of the family, but 

 their arrangement is unique, and has given him the name of "Zebra 

 Bird." They are distributed very locally; in some sections they are very 

 abundant, while in others they are very rare. According to Audubon they 

 were confined to the denser forests and were very shy. Now, especially 

 in the south they are very abundant and are no more timid than the other 

 members of the family, frequently coming about the farm houses for food. 

 There is an old saying to the effect that fine feathers do not make fine 

 birds. This bird surely has fine plumage, and 1 think that on the whole, 

 we will agree that he is a fine bird, although he may not be as useful a 

 one, as some others of the woodpecker family. It has been found that he 

 feeds only to a small extent on insects, and that the greater part of his 

 food consists of animal matter. The orange growers in Florida have 

 given these woodpeckers the names, "Orange Sapsuckers' and "Orange 

 Borers," and say that they eat the oranges and suck the sap from the 

 trees. I do not think we can blame the birds for their choice of food, 

 though if they were especially abundant in any one section, the fruit 

 growers might see their profits vanishing rapidly. 



