XL 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER; ZEBRA WOODPECKER 

 409. Centurus carolinus (Linn.) 



The Red-bellied is one of the handsomest of the 

 Woodpecker family. The male, with crown and nape of 

 deep scarlet and a faint redness on the belly, with white- 

 barred outer tail feathers, white rump and general gray- 

 ish color, is easily identified. In the female the red of the 

 throat is replaced by white. 



The Red-bellied Woodpecker may be readily differ- 

 entiated from the Sapsucker, or Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker, since the latter has a crimson crown bordered 

 with black, and a crimson patch on its chin, similarly 

 bordered ; the remainder of its under parts are yellowish- 

 white. 



Red-belly is about ten inches long. The young 

 quickly assume the plumage markings of the old birds. 

 The species is distributed over the central part of the 

 United States, where it may often be found at all seasons. 



These Woodpeckers excavate nest cavities in dead 

 limbs of live trees and in trunks of dead deciduous trees. 

 The nesting hole is usually a deep, roomy affair in which 

 are laid from four to six eggs. No nesting material is 

 carried into this dark recess. The bird shows a remark- 

 able sagacity in selecting the under side of a limb or 

 leaning tree trunk, where the front door will be pro- 

 tected from the rain and glaring rays of the sun. 



Like its big pileated cousin the Red-bellied Wood- 

 pecker resides from choice in large and heavily timbered 

 flats near watercourses ; it is not so alert or so shy as the 

 former, but occasionally builds its home and rears its 

 young in the large trees in suburban residential districts, 

 and is a much more peaceable bird than the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker. (Fig. 63.) 



Like the Hairy Woodpecker the Red-bellied bird is 

 often wrongly called a Sapsucker. The latter r s breed- 



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