Harris Birds of the Kansas City Region. 273 



It should be protected at all times and fed during the most 

 severe periods of winter. 



The five or six pure white eggs are laid in April or May in a 

 cavity in some dead limb or post. It is a very pugnacious little 

 defender of its home. 



SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS VARIUS (Linn.). Yellow-bellied Sap- 

 sucker. 

 Not uncommon migrant and rare winter visitant. 



Migration waves of Sapsuckers, when the birds are to be seen 

 everywhere for a day or two in spring, have been very infre- 

 quently observed here. It is better known as a straggler be- 

 tween November and late April. 



It is to be looked for about any kind of wooded places and in 

 orchards. Single birds have been occasionally found at any 

 time during the winter. 



PHLOEOTOMUS PILEATUS ALBIETICOLA (Bangs). Northern Pileated 



Woodpecker. 

 Occasional visitant. Former resident. 



This once common woodpecker is still occasionally found in 

 the deep woods of the Missouri bottoms. It persisted as a reg- 

 ular breeder there up until the late eighties or early nineties. 



Some more recent dates are: April 30, 1897, November 1, 

 1915 (Tindall), and March 22, 1916 (Bush). Smithson found 

 a nest with five young near Warrensburg on June 15, 1905, and 

 observed a male bird in the same neighborhood on March 2, 

 1908. 



A few specimens have been brought into the city market dur- 

 ing recent years by farmers who invariably shoot this magnifi- 

 cent bird on sight. 



MELANERPES ERYTHROCEPHALUS (Linn.). Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker. 

 Very common summer resident; occasional winter resident. 



The returning Red-heads arrive during the last few days of 

 April and the bulk of the southbound migrants are gone by the 

 last of September. A few are always about during October. 

 November and less often in December, while an occasional single 



