340 Mortimer on Habits of Florida Birds. [October 



February and March, 1SS9, while gathering fruit or pruning 

 orange trees, I frequently found oranges that had been riddled by 

 this Woodpecker, and repeatedly saw the bird at work. I never 

 observed it feeding upon fallen oranges. It helped itself freely 

 to sound fruit that still hung on the trees, and in some instances I 

 have found ten or twelve oranges on one tree that had been 

 tapped by it. Where an orange accidentally rested on a branch 

 in such a way as to make the flower end accessible from above or 

 from a horizontal direction the Woodpecker chose that spot, as 

 through it he could reach into all the sections of the fruit, and 

 when this was the case there was but one hole in the orange. 

 But usually there were many holes around it. It appeared that 

 after having once commenced on an orange, the Woodpecker 

 returned to the same one repeatedly until he had completely con- 

 sumed the pulp, and then he usually attacked another very near 

 to it. Thus I have found certain clusters in which every orange 

 had been bored, while all the others on the tree were untouched. 

 An old orange grower told me that the ' sapsuckers,' as he called 

 them, never touch any but very ripe oranges and are troublesome 

 only to such growers as reserved their crops for the late market. 

 He also said that it is only within a very few years that they have 

 shown a taste for the fruit ; and I myself observed that, although 

 Red-bellies were very common in the neighborhood, only an 

 individual, or perhaps a pair, visited any one grove. In one 

 case a pair took up their station in a dead pine near a grove and 

 made excursions after the fruit at all hours of the da) T , being eas- 

 ily located by the noise they kept up. 



Tyrannus tyrannus. Kingbird. 



Flocks of Kingbirds wintering in Orange County are very fond 

 of frequenting the lakes that abound there. About Lake Ada, a 

 large, clear-water pond, it is common to find Kingbirds in great 

 numbers, reaching even into the hundreds. They always seem 

 in high spirits and full of play. Continually uttering their note, 

 they pursue one another, and frequently dip in the water like 

 Swallows. Whenever an opportunity offers they indulge in their 

 favorite trick of abusing any Crow that comes along. 



