A QUARTET OF WOODLAND DRUMMERS 213 



The violent jar transmitted to the upper end was usually 

 severe enough to kill the bird. 



The redhead visits the corn fields during rqasting-ear 

 time. He will tear the husk open at the end until he can 

 see the milky white grains so snugly tucked away in rows. 

 After eating his fill he leaves and does not return to the 

 same ear, but when hunger again calls him to the field he 

 attacks a new one. The corn raisers of course object to 

 this pilfering in their fields and some of them make it a 

 point to shoot at the thief whenever they catch him in the 

 act. 



In flying, the redhead does not travel in a straight, even 

 line as many birds do, nor does he soar as many others, 

 but goes swinging up and down through the air in long 

 billowy sweeps. When you see one start across a wide field 

 it is worth the while to stop and watch him ; the sight will 

 well repay you. 



Like the flicker, this woodpecker digs a cavity for his 

 nest in a dead tree. Five eggs are generally found in a 

 nest. If the bird is robbed it will not keep on laying an 

 egg each day, but will in the course of two or three weeks 

 deposit another set of four or five. If these are taken the 

 bird will often try a third time to rear a brood. I once 

 knew a pair of redheads which had their nest rifled four 

 times, nineteen eggs in all being taken. Then they left 



