192 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



This is the only woodpecker which is permanently injurious to trees, it being 

 very fond of the sap and tender inner bark. It will dig many little holes through 

 the bark, running them around the trunk one above the other. Pearson counted 

 over 1,600 of these miniature excavations in the trunk of a small "she balsam" on 

 the campus of Guilford College. The trees which they seem to attack most com- 

 monly are the white pine, apple, and black gum. In winter they subsist mainly 

 on berries, such as those of the dogwood, frost grape, and holly. 



Pia. 150. YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKEB. 



They appear to be the least shy of any of our woodpeckers. *^0n the other, hand r 

 they are much less noisy, both in their cries and while at work pecking in the bark, 

 and thus easily escape detection by the casual observer. 



Bendire, in Life Histories of North American Birds, writes of this bird: "None 

 of our woodpeckers are more noisy and boisterous than this species." This may 

 be correct in reference to them when on their northern breeding grounds, but it 

 certainly is not true of the birds as usually observed in North Carolina. 



Genus Phloeotomus (C. & H.) 

 178. Phloeotomus pileatus (Linn.}. PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



Description. Black; a white stripe down neck; whole top of head and crest, and a patch on 

 cheeks, red in male, but only crest red in female. In color distinguished from the Ivory-billed 

 Woodpecker by the lack of white on the scapulars (shoulders), and by the general color being, 

 dull black instead of glossy black. L., 17.00; W., 9.00; T., 6.25. 



Range (including subspecies). Whole of North America. 



Range in North Carolina. Heavily wooded districts throughout the State; resident. 



According to the American Ornithologist's Check List, two subspecies of the 

 Pileated Woodpecker are liable to occur in North Carolina, as follows: 



1. Pileated Woodpecker, Phlceotomus pileatus pileatus (Linn.). More sooty 

 black in color, with the white markings less extensive; size smaller, wing about 9.00 

 or less. Southern States from North Carolina southward. 



2. Northern Pileated Woodpecker, Phloeotomus pileatus abieticola (Bangs). 

 Color more brownish black, white markings more extensive, size larger, wing about 

 9.25. British America, extending south in the southern Alleghanies. 



