64 THE WOODPECKERS 



bilities are that this is a recent improvement in 

 the red-head's ways of living. 



J <O 



Another set of facts increases the probabilities 

 of our supposition. It is a very delicate subject 

 to handle because it affects the reputation of a 

 family in good standing; but there is positive 

 proof that sometimes the red-head has been 

 guilty of crimes which would give a man a full 

 column in the newspapers with staring head- 

 lines. If such deeds were not a thousand times 

 less common among woodpeckers than they are 

 among men the red-head would be declared an 

 outlaw. He has been proved to be a hen-roost 

 robber, a murderer, and a cannibal. In Florida 

 he has sucked hen's eggs. In Iowa he has been 

 seen to kill a duckling. There is a record in 

 Ohio that he pecked holes in the walls of the 

 eaves swallow's nest and stole all the eggs, and 

 that he was finally killed in the act of robbing 

 a setting hen's nest. Within the space of fif- 

 teen years, from Montana, Georgia, Colorado, 

 New York, and Ontario, in addition to the re- 

 cords mentioned already from Florida, Ohio, and 

 Iowa, come accounts of his stealing birds' eggs 

 and murdering and eating other birds. The 

 evidence is indisputable. 



It is charity to suppose that this is the work of 

 natural criminals, or of degenerate, under-witted, 



