328 WOODPECKERS 



markings of the wings show conspicuously. Their usual call-note is a 

 sonorous cow-cow-cow, repeated rather slowly many times, suggesting 

 a somewhat similar call of the Flicker's. Like the Flicker, they have 

 also a wichew note uttered when two birds come together. 



405a. P. p. abieticola (Bangs'). NORTHERN PILEATED WOODPECKER. 

 Larger, bill longer, white markings more extensive. W., 9'10; T., 6'30; B. f 

 2'00 (cf. Bangs, Auk, XV, 1898, 176). 



Range. Canadian and Transition zone forests of N. A. from ne. B. C., 

 s. Mackenzie, s. Keewatin, cen. Que., and N. F. to the s. Sierra Nevada oi 

 Calif., n. N. M., and the s. Alleghanies. 



Washington, rare P. R. N. Ohio, rare P. R. SE. Minn., rare P. R. 



Nest, 12 to 80 feet up. Eggs, 3-5, white, 1'30 x '94. Date, Maine, 

 May 11. 



1901. MORRELL, C. H., Journ. Me. Orn. Soc., Ill, 32-35 (in Maine). 



406. Melanerpes erythrocephalus (Linn.). RED-HEADED WOOD- 

 PECKER. Ads. Head, neck, throat, and upper breast deep red; upper back, 

 primaries, bases of the secondaries, and wing-coverts bluish black; end half 

 of the secondaries, rump, and upper tail-coverts white; tail black, the feath- 

 ers more or less tipped or margined with white ; lower breast and belly white, 

 the middle of the latter generally tinged with reddish. Im. Red head and 

 neck of the adult replaced by mixed grayish brown and fuscous; upper back 

 bluish black, barred with ashy; primaries and wing-coverts black; end half 

 of the secondaries irregularly barred with black; tail black, generally tipped 

 with white; lower breast and belly white, more or less streaked or spotted 

 with fuscous. L., 9*75; W., 5'52; T., 3'30; B., 1'17. 



Range. Transition and Austral zones from se. B. C., s. Alberta, Man., 

 and Ont. s. to the Gulf coast, and from cen. Mont., cen. Colo., and cen. 

 Tex., e. to valleys of the Hudson and Delaware; rare and local in New Eng- 

 land; casual in Ariz., N. M., Utah, N. S., and N. B.; irregularly migratory 

 in the n. parts of its range. 



Washington, rather common S. R., rare W. V. Ossining, rare P. R., 

 common in fall, Aug. 27-Oct. 12. Cambridge, irregular at all seasons; 

 sometimes common in fall. N. Ohio, common S. R., Apl. 20-Sept. 25; 

 occasionally winters. Glen Ellyn, common S. R., Feb. 19-Nov. 6; a few 

 winter. SE. Minn., common S. R., Apl. 4-Sept. 17; rare in winter. 



Nest, generally in a dead tree. Eggs, 4-6, white, TOO x '75. Date, San 

 Mateo, Fla., May 5; Chester Co., Pa., June 8; Jay Co., Ind., May 21, inc. 

 adv.; se. Minn., May 22. 



Give a bird an abundance of its favorite food, and its movements 

 no longer seem to be governed by the calendar. R^d-hcaded Wood- 

 peckers were supposed to migrate southward in the fall and pass the 

 winter south of Maryland, until Dr. Merriam, in his interesting account . 

 of the habits of this species (Bull. Null. Orn. Club, III, 1878, pp. 123-128), 

 told us that in Lewis County, northern New York, their abundance in 

 winter was in no way affected by the severity of the weather, but was 

 entirely dependent upon the success of the crop of beechnuts which 

 constitute their food. 



Indeed, few birds seem better able to adapt themselves to their 

 surroundings. They change their fare and habits with the season, 

 and to the accomplishments of Woodpeckers add those of Flycatchers 

 and fruit-eaters. We should expect, therefore, to find them very gen- 

 erally distributed, but in the northern States they show an evident 



