i8o Bird Studies. 



head, often with a mixture of dull red feathers. Frequently there is an ad- 

 mixture of scarlet with the dull throat feathers. 



The nesting is similar to that of most woodpeckers, a hole in some tree, 

 excavated by the birds at varying heights from the ground. Four to seven 

 white eggs are laid which are nearly nine tenths of an inch long, and less 

 than seven tenths of an inch in their other diameter. The birds are migra- 

 tory, and are found in Eastern North America as far north as Fort Simpson. 

 They breed regularly from Northern New England north. I found two pair 

 breeding on the summits of the Alleghanies in Southwestern Virginia. They 

 winter from Virginia southward through the West Indies to Central America. 



There are two kinds of Three-toed Woodpeckers in Eastern North 

 America. Their names indicate their characteristic feet. Two toes are in 

 front and one behind in both kinds. They are both boreal birds, going as 

 far north as the tree limit, and ranging south to the Northern United States. 



The American Three-toed Woodpecker is limited in its distribution to 

 the region east of the Rocky Mountains, while the Arctic Three-toed Wood- 

 American Three- P ec ^er occurs throughout Northern North America. The 

 toed Woodpecker, smaller of the two is the American, which is about eight 

 picoides americanus Brehm. i nc h es an d three quarters long. In the male the top of 

 the head is black, spotted with white, and there is a yellow crown patch. 

 The back is barred black and white, and the wings are black spotted with 

 white. The middle tail feathers are black, and the outer ones are black and 

 white. The under parts are white, the sides and flanks are barred with black. 

 The female is similar, but lacks the yellow crown patch. 



The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker is larger, being nine ancf a half 



inches long. The entire top of the head, except a yellow median crown 



Arctic Three-toed P atcn ' an d the back are a clear lustrous black. There is 



Woodpecker. a white line passing from the nostrils to below the eye. 



picoides arcticus (swains.). The other parts are colored much the same as in the 



smaller ally. The female is like the male, but lacks the yellow crown patch. 



Both kinds nest near the ground in trees, in the characteristic manner of 



most woodpeckers. 



The Red-cockaded Woodpecker, belying its scientific name, borealis, is 

 a bird of Southern distribution, and is resident in the United States from 



