OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 147 



inch. According to this writer, only one brood is reared in 

 a season. 



Wilson says the eggs are five in number, of a pure white, 

 or a nearly semi-transparent color. The young usually ap- 

 pear towards the latter'part of May, two broods being raised 

 in a season. 



Dr. Brewer describes the eggs as varying from an oblong 

 to a slightly rounded oval shape. Their ground-color is a 

 bright crystalline white, and average measurement 1.02 

 inches in length, md .88 of an inch in width. 



Melanerpes erythrocephalus, s. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker is pretty generally distrib- 

 uted in North America, except where it has suffered perse- 

 cutions and destruction at the hands of indiscriminate and 

 merciless persons. In Boston, it was informer years quite 

 abundant, but is now rarely observed ; but in Western Mas- 

 sachusetts, it is still found. Richardson has met it in summer 

 as far as the northern shores of Lake Huron ; and says that 

 specimens from the banks of the Columbia River are depos- 

 ited in the Hudson Bay Museum. Dr. Gambel includes it 

 in the list of birds of California, which is probably a mis- 

 take, as it has never been observed by others. Dr. W r ood- 

 house gives it as a resident of Texas and the Indian Territory, 

 which is also probably a mistake, as none of the parties 

 connected with the different government expeditions appear 

 to have noticed it. Its limits may be defined from the Gulf 

 of Mexico northward to Labrador, and from the Atlantic to 

 the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, being, however, 

 less abundant in the Southern States during the breeding 

 season, than in Pennsylvania. In Eastern Vermont but a 

 Dingle specimen has been taken by Mr. C. S. Paine; but 

 west of the Green Mountains, it is quite common. Accord- 

 ing to the statement of some of the oldest inhabitants, it was 

 formerly quite abundant in all parts of the State. 



In Eastern Pennsylvania, though considerably less com- 



