.WOODPECKERS. 



99 



recorded instance oi the importation of C. striatus_as 

 a ca,ge-ibird, '-but there ds every likelihood of it being 

 again imported. 



RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 



(Melanerjjes erythroceplialus) . 



Above black glossed with, greenish blue ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts white; innermost primary with the 

 top and part of the margin of inner web white; 

 secondaries white with shafts and concealed bases black, 

 the outermost one with a subapical bar on inner web 

 and the outer web black ; all the tail-feathers excepting 

 th central pair with a patch of white on inner web at 

 base ; the outer feather tipped and externally edged with 

 white; nasal plumes brownish black; head, neck, and 

 entire centre of chest crimson, the last mentioned 

 narrowly edged at sides with black; remainder of under 

 surface white, slightly yellowish, on abdomen; edge of 

 wing black. Female differs in its slightly smaller size 

 and in its distinctly more slender and slightly longer 

 Mil. Hab., United States. 



Major Bendire says of this bird (" Life Histories," 

 pp. 108-112) : " Its breeding range is coextensive with 

 its distribution. Birds that migrate usually return to 

 their summer homes about the latter part of April or 

 the 'beginning of May, and leave for the south again 

 about the first of October. Their movements are very 

 uncertain at all times, and are evidently regulated 

 largely by the food supply ; even on their breeding 

 grounds, where they may be common one year, not a 

 single pair may be found the next. Its favourite 

 resorts in summer are the borders of woods, fringes of 

 timber along streams, solitary trees in fields and 

 pastures, shade trees along country woods, and on the 

 treeless prairies oi some of our Western States it con- 

 tents itself with telegraph poles, fence posts, etc. In 

 the South, newly-cleared fields in which a number of 

 dead, girdled trees still remain standing are much 

 resorted to, and in such localities these birds are very 

 abundant at almost all seasons, but especially in winter. 



" In summer the food of the Red-beaded Woodpecker 

 consists to a considerable extent of insects of different 

 kinds, such as grasshoppers, ants, beetles, and flies, 

 many of which are caught on the wing, and of such 

 larvae as may be hidden under the ibark of trees, or in 

 rotten wood ; but it rarely digs out those of the wood- 

 boring beetles, which are found, in more solid trees. 

 At this season it also feeds largely on fruits and berries, 

 such as cherries, apples, pears, figs, .peaches, and 

 grapes, .as well as on blackberries, raspberries, mul- 

 berries, poke and elder berries, green peas, and Indian 

 corn in the milk ; and last, but not least, on young 

 birds and eggs.* In the late fall and winter its diet 

 is more largely vegetable, one of its staples being beech- 

 nuts ; the berries of the sour gum, dogwood, and pal- 

 metto are also largely eaten ; acorns, Indian corn, and 

 small grains are likewise used, and it is well known 

 that these birds also store away supplies, consisting 

 both of insects and vegetable matter, for winter use." 



" Its flight, like that of all Woodpeckers, is undu- 

 lating and surging, and the bird looks especially graceful 

 and pleasing on the wing. It is an adept flycatcher, and 

 its vision is exceedingly ."harp. A considerable portion 

 of its food is picked up on the ground. I have seen one 

 drop down from his perch on some dead limb, fullv 

 20 ft. 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 



* Mao'or Bendire records in full -various instances of the 

 cannibalistic habits of this Woodpecker, but they would occupy 

 -too much space for insertion here. 



also seen them cling to the side of a tree or fence post, 

 perfectly motionless, for fifteen minutes at a time." 



" Like most Woodpeckers, the Red-headed is rather 

 noisy during the nesting season, continually frolicking 



and playing hide and seek with its mate, and when not 

 so engaged, amusing itself by drumming on some 

 resonant dead limb, or on the roof and sides of houses, 

 barns, etc. It is a rather suspicious bird, but where 

 not molested it will occasionally nest in close proximity 

 to houses. Its ordinary call note is a loud " tchur- 

 tchur " ; when chasing each other a shrill note like 

 " charr-charr " is frequently uttered, and alarm is ex- 

 pressed by a harsh rattling note, as well as by one 

 which, according to Mr. Otto Widmann, is indistinguish- 

 able from the note of the Tree-frog (Hyla arborea). He 

 tells me that both bird and frog sometimes answer each 

 other. I consider this species rather quarrelsome and 

 domineering, both toward its own kind and with other 

 birds, and see little in its general character to commend. 

 From an economic view, it appears to me certainly to 

 do fully as much, if not more, harm than good, and 1 

 consider it less worthy of protection than any of our 

 Woodpeckers, the Yellow-breasted Sapsucker not 

 excepted. 



" In the northern parts of its range nidification begins 

 usually during the last week in May or the first week 

 in June. Some of its nesting sites are exceedingly neat 

 pieces of work ; the edges of the entrance hole are 

 beautifully bevelled off, and the inside is as smooth 

 as if finished with a fine rasp. The entrance is about 

 If inches in diameter, and the inner cavity varies from 

 8 to 24 inches in depth ; the eggs are deposited on a 

 layer of fine chips. It usually nests in the dead tops 

 or limbs of deciduous trees, or in old stumps of oak, 

 ash, butternut, maple, elm, sycamore, cottonwood, 

 willow, and other species, more rarely in coniferous and 

 fruit trees, at heights varying from 8 to 80 feet from 

 the ground, and also not infrequently in natural cavi- 

 ties. On the treeless prairies it has to resort mainly 

 to telegraph poles and fence posts, and here it also nests 

 under the roofs of houses or in any dark corner it can 

 find. 



" Incubation lasts about two weeks, and both sexes 

 assist in this labour, as well as in the preparation of 

 the nesting cavity ; an egg is laid daily, and incubation 

 sometimes commences before the set is completed. The 

 young of this species are fed in the ordinary way, at 

 any rate after they are half-grown, the parents bring- 

 ing their food in their bills. The number of eggs to a 

 set varies from four to seven, sets of five being most 

 frequently found, while occasionally as many as eight 

 eggs have been taken from a nest. Mr. R. C. McGregor 

 records taking a set of ten eggs of the Red-head, vary- 

 ing in size from ordinary down to that of the Song 

 Sparrow. Incubation varied from fresh in the smallest 

 egg to advanced in the larger ; the nest was in the 

 end of a rotten limb of a large willow, about 20 ft. 

 from the ground. Locality, Crow Creek, Weld County, 

 Colorado, May, 1887. Like the eggs of all our Wood- 

 peckers, they are pure china white in colour ; the shell 

 is fine-grained and rather glossy, and when fresh they 

 are quite translucent ; they are mostly short ovate in 

 shape, and show but little variation in this respect. 



" The average measurement of sixty eggs in the 

 United States National Museum collection is 25.12 by 

 19.25 millimetres, or about 0.99 by 0.76 inch." 



An example of the Red-heiadiedi Woodpecker reached 

 the London Zoological Gardieins in April, 1884, and a 

 second was exhibited at the show of the " Ornis " 

 Society in 1890, and subsequently arrived at the Berlin 



