unmarked. Some eggs are very pointed; some arc nearly elliptical, while others, the most usual pattern, 

 are about midway between these extremes. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 

 See Table. 



REMARKS : 



The illustration, Plate XLIV, represents a section of a limb containing a Red-headed Woodpecker's 

 nest and three eggs. The size of the entrance, the curve, depth, and diameter of the cavity are about 

 the average. The eggs show the usual shapes and sizes. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker is one of our most familiar and useful birds. Being conspicuous by 

 his national colors, and very quarrelsome and noisy, his presence is generally known wherever he is. 

 The sexes are alike; but the young do not acquire their fall coloring until nearly a year old. 



The Woodpecker will make long foraging excursions to a corn-crib or a cherry-tree, taking, at each 

 trip, a single grain of corn or single cherry. In winter Woodpeckers generally retire to the deepest 

 forests, and glean most of their living from acorns, beech-nuts, and insects found in dead trees. Fre- 

 quently they store away in the fall such provisions as acorns and grains of Indian-corn ; sticking them in 

 crevices about the bark of trees, presumably for use in winter emergencies. 



With the return of spring the Red-heads leave their retirement, and, greeting the return of their 

 southern friends, are heard about every field, as well as timber-land Mating soon begins, and building 

 sites are chosen. After days have been spent in constructing a home, a Bluebird or House Wren may 

 decide to possess it, and such an unceasing war is waged against the owners that they will abandon it, 

 rather than be in a continual fight. Sometimes a pair of Red-heads, instead of building, will select an 

 old house of a Yellow Hammer or some other Woodpecker, or even a natural cavity. I knew one pair 

 to raise their young in a Yellow Hammer's nest from which I had recently taken a set of eggs. The 

 decayed wood I chopped away with a hatchet, so that my hand could enter, and in this opening I 

 wedged a stone, leaving a hole just large enough for the Red-heads to enter. The young are homely 

 little things, and, when full fledged, are so cowardly that they will frequently remain in the nest, calling 

 for food, from day to day, when they are abundantly able to care for themselves. The parents are, how- 

 ever, exceedingly indulgent, and seem strongly attached to their offspring, feeding and protecting them 

 even long after quitting the nest. Yet, notwithstanding this solicitude for their progeny, they frequently 

 starve to death all of the brood but one or two. In .every brood there is one bird older and stronger 

 than the rest, and this one is sure to be on top and get his head to the hole first when the old ones 

 come with food. Being stronger at the start than his brothers and sisters, and, each day getting more 

 food, he gains more strength ; and, gaining more strength, he gets each day more food. While this 

 double acting system progresses, the reverse is happening to his mates, until, in extreme cases, they 

 actually die of starvation, and are not even carried out of the nest by the parents. 



A friend related to me, some years since, a curious incident, as follows: While he was riding along 



a country road, a medium-sized Hawk darted after a Red-headed Woodpecker that had just fled from a 



fence-post, and both went to the ground together. Having some curiosity to see why the Hawk, which 



was fluttering wildly, did not rise with the prey, and, also, a desire to free the Woodpecker, which was 



screaming at the top of his voice for help, he dismounted, climbed the fence, and approached the birds, 



when, to his surprise, he discovered that the Hawk was endeavoring to get away, but was being held 



by the Woodpecker. By a dexterous movement he grasped the Hawk, and, with difficulty, freed him 



from the grip of his antagonist, which held him firmly about the leg with one foot, while, with the other, 



he clung to a small root. DSI 



148 



