80 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



ANT^EATING WOODPECKER. 



407. Melanerpes formicivorus. 



Male with a red crown and white or yellowish forehead; female with the 

 white forehead separated from the red crown by a black band. Black band 

 across the breast streaked with white. Young ver}^ similar but duller col- 

 ored. 



Range. — Southwestern United States, from Texas to Arizona and south 

 into INIexico. 



CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER, 



407. 9.5 inches. M. f, Bairdi. 



Like the. last variety but with the bill slightly heavier, and with black 

 breast band nearly solid black. 



Range. — Pacific coast from Oregon southward. 



These beautiful birds are rarely seen far distant from the oak belts, and 

 in suitable localities throughout the southwest and on the Pacific coast, they 

 are fairly common. As they are sociable and often found in flocks, besides 

 being noisy, they are, perhaps, the most often seen of any of the family. 



Except when working, they seem to be very restless and are continually 

 flitting from tree to tree; but they will sit on the end of a dead limb and 

 drum on the resonant wood for hours at a time, stopping every few minutes 

 to listen for an answer, or to see if their music is being properly appreciated. 



All woodpeckers will store food away for future use, but this species seem 

 to be a great deal more industrious in this particular than any other. Their 

 food consists chiefly of acorns; these thej^ will gather and tuck in holes that 

 they have drilled for their reception in suitable dead limbs, or in the tops 

 of telegraph poles. Sometimes trees will be found studded with acorns, row 

 after row of holes being drilled closely together around the trunk. Acorns 

 are put in these both for storage purposes and holding them so that they 

 can hammer the shell open with their bill. Jay and squirrels try to, and 

 often do steal a great many of these stored nuts, but, while these woodpeckers 

 are very sociable and peacefully inclined towards one another, they do their 

 best to pvmish any marauder that they catch purloining their stores. 



Besides acorns, they catch a great many insects, often darting out from; the 

 trees and catching them in the air, true flycatcher fashion. They also eat a 

 great many larvae and eggs of insects that they get from under the bark. 

 They do some damage to fruit, in the season, for like all the woodpeckers of 

 this genus, they are fond of it. However, the damage they do is slight com- 

 pared to the good services that they render. 



About the middle of April they commence to excavate their home; they 

 most often select an oak, but if there is a shortage of decayed ones, any tree 



