592 The Roller-like Birds 



Green Woodpecker (G. sharpei), which differs in having the lores and face slate- 

 gray instead of black, while in Morocco and Algeria occurs the Algerian Green 

 Woodpecker (G. vaillanti}. The remainder of the twenty- two species spread 

 far to the eastward in the Himalayas, and the Indian region, and as far as Japan, 

 some nine or ten occurring in India proper. All have habits similar to those 

 of the species first described, except that perhaps some of the eastern species 

 seem to spend rather more time on the ground. Throughout the Ethiopian 

 region occurs the genus Campothera, of which over twenty species are recognized. 

 They are smaller birds than the true Green Woodpeckers, being about eight 

 inches long, though some hardly exceed six inches, and have shorter, more rounded 

 wings than their nearest relatives, the American Green Woodpeckers. As 

 the habits of all are similar so far as known, we may mention only the Golden- 

 tailed Woodpecker (C. abingdoni) of southeast Africa. The upper parts are 

 olive-green, the crown crimson, the lower back and rump being white-barred, 

 and the back, coverts, and wings more or less spotted with yellowish white ; the 

 tail-feathers are dark brown, and the shafts golden-yellow, while the lower 

 parts of the body are pale sulphur-yellow more or less black-spotted; the length 

 is seven and a half inches. Of the habits as observed in Natal, Mr. Ayres says : 

 " These Woodpeckers are to be found throughout the Colony, wherever there 

 is bush-land, singly or in pairs; their note is loud and harsh; they are very 

 restless in their habits, constantly hunting for food as if they never obtained 

 a sufficiency; their flight is heavy and dipping." Their nest-holes are similar 

 to those of other Woodpeckers. 



Several related genera of South America are Chloronerpes with eighteen species, 

 and Chrysoptilus with eight species, while in India, Burma, and Java occurs the 

 genus Chrysophlegma with eleven species. The latter genus differs from the 

 true Green Woodpeckers (Gecinus) in the more, curved and blunter bill and 

 yellow crest, the sexes being distinguished by differences in the color of the chin 

 and malar region instead of the crown. 



Red-headed Woodpecker. One of the most striking and familiar of the 

 smaller Woodpeckers of the New World, is the beautiful Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus] of the eastern United States, which may 

 be taken as typical of the genus Melanerpes, the thirty-five forms of which range 

 over the United States and Canada, and thence through Central America and 

 the West Indies into South America as far as Argentina and Uruguay. The 

 Red-head, a bird about nine and a half inches in length, has the head, neck, 

 throat, and upper breast a uniform rich crimson, the back, wing-coverts, and 

 scapulars glossy blue-black, while the terminal half of the secondaries, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and all the lower parts are pure white, the lower abdomen 

 sometimes tinged with orange or reddish. The Red-head frequents open 

 woodland, or along streams, solitary trees in fields and pastures, fences along 

 roadsides, and in the treeless prairie lands of the West is often seen on telegraph 

 poles, in which it not infrequently excavates its nest-hole. While more or less 

 migratory, its movements appear to depend upon the food supply rather than 

 extremes of temperature, since if its supply of beechnuts holds good, it may 



