THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 183 



406 Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linnaeus). 

 Red-headed Woodpecker. 



PLATE 38. 



Adult. Length, 9.50. Wing, 5.40. Entire head, throat and upper breast, 

 bright crimson red ; back, wings and tail, glossy blue-black ; rump, secondaries, 

 tertials and tips of outer tail feathers, white*; lower part of the body, white, 

 with a wash of red on the middle of the abdomen. 



Young in first summer and autumn. Head, grayish-brown, finely mottled 

 with dusky ; back barred transversely gray and blue-black ; secondaries and 

 tertials, white, barred with black ; under parts, dull white ; whole throat and 

 breast thickly streaked with dusky. 



Nest and eggs as in other Woodpeckers ; eggs, 1 x .75. 



Local summer resident, and occasional resident. 



This beautiful bird is rare in southern New Jersey, and, so far as I 

 am aware, is never found in the pine barrens. Young birds have been 

 noted occasionally to pass the winter at Haddonfield (Rhoads), 

 Moorestown (Evans) and Yardville (Allinson). 



I saw an adult May 7th, 1896, north of Salem, and Mr. W. L. 

 Baily saw another at Ocean City May 5th of the same year. I do not 

 recall any definite record of its breeding south of Haddonfield, and 

 even there it is irregular. Beesley (1857), gives it as a breeding 

 species in Cape May county, but some of his records are obviously 

 erroneous. 



At Princeton Mr. Babson 1 states that a few years ago it was a com- 

 mon summer resident, and not infrequent in winter, but at the time 

 he wrote (1901) it had become rare. 



In the northern part of the State it is more plentiful, but irregular. 

 At Paterson Mr. J. H. Clark reports it as an irregular but rare per- 

 manent resident, sometimes tolerably common in April and May. 

 Nests in June, preferring telegraph poles along some retired road. 

 Mr. W. D. W. Miller regards it as rather rare at Plainfield, but some- 

 times common in fall. In the Passaic Valley, Great Swamp region 

 and on the Raritan it is more plentiful. 2 Messrs. H. H. Hann and 

 J. P. Callender have found it nesting at Chatham, Hanover and Sum- 

 mit, but report it very local. Mr. Caskey regards it as rather rare at 



1 Birds of Princeton, p. 54. 



2 Cassinia, 1903, p. 6. 



