io A RED-HEADED FAMIL Y. 



The green-black feathers near his shoulders, 

 the snow-white lines down his neck, and the tall 

 red crest on his head, all shone with great brill- 

 iancy, whilst his ivory beak gleamed like a 

 dagger. He soon settled for me a question 

 which had long been in my mind. With two 

 or three light preliminary taps on a hard heart- 

 pine splinter, he proceeded to beat the regular 

 woodpecker drum-call that long rolling rattle 

 made familiar to us all by the common red- 

 head (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) and our 

 other smaller woodpeckers. This peculiar call 

 is not, in my opinion, the result of elasticity or 

 springiness in the wood upon which it is per- 

 formed, but is effected by a rapid, spasmodic 

 motion of the bird's head, imparted by a volun- 

 tary muscular action. I have seen the com- 

 mon Red-head make a soundless call on a 

 fence-stake where the decaying wood was 

 scarcely hard enough to prevent the full en- 

 trance of his beak. His head went through 

 the same rapid vibration, but no sound accom- 

 panied the performance. Still, it is resonance 

 in the wood that the bird desires, and it keeps 

 trying until a good sounding-board is found. 

 It was very satisfying to me when the superb 

 King of the Woodpeckers /zV noir a bee blanc^ 

 as the great French naturalist named it went 

 over the call, time after time, with grand ef- 

 fect, letting go, between trials, one or two of 

 his triumphant trumpet-notes. Hitherto I had 

 not seen the Campephilus do this, though I had 

 often heard what I supposed to be the call. 

 As I crouched in my hiding-place and furtively 

 watched the proceedings, I remember com- 

 paring the birds and their dwelling to some 

 half-savage lord and lady and their isolated 



