Red-headed Woodpeckers and Sapsuckers 593 



pass the winter as far north as the southern Adirondacks in New York and in 

 the northern New England States. It is a very omnivorous feeder, subsisting 

 during the summer on various insects, especially grasshoppers, ants, beetles, 

 and flies, the latter often taken on the wing, but it rarely digs in solid wood for 

 the wood-boring larvae; later it makes use of a great variety of fruits, nuts, and 

 seeds, such as cherries, apples, peaches, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, mul- 

 berries, and Indian corn in the milk, while in late fall and winter it feeds largely 

 on beechnuts, acorns, dogwood berries, etc. It has the habit of storing up 

 food, both animal and vegetable, in cracks of posts, rails, crevices of buildings, 

 and holes in trunks of trees. But its most remarkable food habits are exhibited 

 in its unmistakable cannibalism, since it is known to eat both eggs and young 

 birds of various species, such as Bluebirds, Titmice, Swallows, etc. Many 

 instances of this kind could be mentioned, but we will quote but one, a brief 

 statement by Mr. W. G. Smith, whose observations were made along the eastern 

 base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. He says: "I consider it a veritable 

 butcher among our Nut-hatches and Chickadees, driving every one away from 

 its nesting sites, and woe to the bird that this villain can reach. It destroys 

 both eggs and young, dragging the latter out of their nests and frequently leav- 

 ing them dead at the entrance of their holes." 



The Red-head is a rather noisy bird, especially during the nesting season, 

 and selects a great variety of places for its nest-burrow, such as the trunks and 

 limbs of all kinds of trees, posts, telegraph poles, or under the roofs of houses, 

 or "any dark corner it can find." The eggs are usually five in number, though 

 the range is from four to seven. 



Other species of the genus that are worthy of mention is the Red-bellied 

 Woodpecker (M. carolinus} of the eastern United States mainly south of Mary- 

 land, and South Dakota, and the handsome Lewis's Woodpecker (M. torquatus) 

 of the western United States, the latter sometimes placed in a separate genus 

 (Asyndesmus} and distinguished at once by the rich, dark crimson and quite 

 bristle-like feathers of the under parts. 



Sapsuckers. Entirely confined to North America are the Sapsuckers 

 (Sphyrapicus), of which some four or five forms are recognized, and which are 

 anatomically distinguished by the absence of the long, extensile tongue so char- 

 acteristic of most Woodpeckers. Belonging to that section of the family in which 

 the first primary is very small, the Sapsuckers have the general upper plumage 

 black, more or less varied with white, and the lower parts plain yellowish or white, 

 with a large crescentic patch of black on the chest, while there is more or less crim- 

 son on the head and on the throat only in males (except S. ruber}. Perhaps the 

 best-known species is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (S. varius) of northern and 

 eastern North America. It is distinguished by the brownish white nape, black 

 chest patch, and stripes of white on the sides of the head ; the length is about 

 eight and a half inches, the sexes being nearly alike in plumage, the female, 

 however, having a white instead of red throat. The favorite haunts of this 

 species are deciduous and mixed woods, especially along streams and the borders 

 of lakes and swamps, and in certain parts cf the country, such as the Adirondack 



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