RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 159 



floor high, trees ; while the swallows and swifts 

 go above all in the air. 



XLVII. 



RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



THE handsome red-head can be distinguished 

 at almost any distance by his sharply blocked 

 " tricolor " of glossy blue-black, bright crimson, 

 and clear white. Beginning with his red head, 

 the stripes of the French flag are reversed, for 

 the order is not red, white, and blue, but red, 

 blue (black), and white. Underneath he is pure 

 white. Mr. Burroughs speaks of his flitting 

 about the open woods, " connecting the trees by 

 a gentle arc of crimson and white ! " 



When common, the red -headed woodpecker 

 may be found everywhere, in the orchards, gar- 

 dens, fields, and woods, but in many parts of 

 the country he is rather rare. He is an erratic 

 migrant, his residence in any district depending 

 on the nut supply ; so that you may not see him 

 for a year or more at a time. 



Like the California woodpecker, the red-heads 

 are " hoarders." They have been found making 

 a business of storing away beech nuts. They 

 would hide them not only in knot-holes, between 

 cracks in the bark, and under strips of loosened 

 bark, but also in fence posts, railroad ties, and 



