Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 125 



acts of civilization and not averse to benevolent assimilation. 

 Where its last trees and stumps are removed it takes to tele- 

 graph and telephone poles, sometimes much to its undoing, 

 as ignorance accuses it of weakening the poles and cruel man 

 with no regard for the sanctity of home, plays havoc in an atrocious 

 manner by closing up the hole. When not molested the hand- 

 some bird becomes an inmate of our suburban homes, of parks 

 and cemeteries, of every clump of trees about the farms, and even 

 of shade trees in the streets of towns. There are few birds 

 that come with more precision than our Redheads in the spring. 

 As with other summer residents which are in some measure 

 winter residents, the real spring movement of this species is 

 somewhat obscured by individuals which have only tempor- 

 arily retreated to near-by sheltered bottoms and return with 

 milder weather, more or less in advance of the masses that have 

 gone farther away and patiently wait till their regular time 

 has come. This is for the whole state between April 20 and 29, 

 when after a few favorable nights their old haunts are resounding 

 with their peculiar calls. They are particularly numerous and 

 noisy during the first half of May, after which they settle down 

 to domestic duties. In July, when the young ones are grown, 

 the species becomes again conspicuous and remains so until the 

 middle of September. Strangely enough they leave us while 

 the land is still flowing with milk and honey for such pretensions 

 as Woodpeckers are supposed to have, but they know a land 

 where beechnuts grow, and there they go. Their departure is 

 as wonderful as their arrival in spring; all at once they are gone. 

 They seem to go in a body, sometimes even in daytime. Within 

 one hour, 10-11 a. m., September 15, 1884, I counted 284 flying 

 across the Mississippi River in the southern part of St. Louis, 

 all going the same way, eastward. 



This exodus takes place in the third week of September, 

 leaving only those behind which intend to winter. Most of 

 their usual summer haunts are deserted, but exceptions are not 

 rare where solitary birds or a few together are found even in 

 small oak groves all winter in suburbs or villages. Quite different 

 conditions prevail in the heavy timber of the sheltered bottom- 

 lands, principally in the southeast. There the Redheads know 

 no season; all winter whole troops of them hammer away on 

 dark and dreary days or frolic when the sun shines. There is 

 no bird more playful than the Redhead. 



