334 



LAND-BIRDS. 



Massachusetts, but abundant in the forests of northern New 

 England, where it breeds.* 



a. About 9 J inches long. ^, 

 with a scarlet patch on the hind- 

 head. Under parts, central back, and 

 outer taU-feathers, white. (Feath- 

 ers about the nostrUs, yellowish.) 

 Otherwise black and white. 



[Note. There are western va- 

 rieties of this and the next species, 

 with a soiling of gray on the breast, 

 and without white spots on the wing- 

 coverts.] 



b. The eggs of each set are four 

 or five, and measure .85 X .65 of an 

 inch, or more. The nest is built in 

 woods, or sometimes orchards, and in 

 Massachusetts is finished about the 

 tenth of May. See I, A, b. 



c. The Hairy Woodpeckers are resident throughout the 

 eastern United States, and in summer, if not also in winter, 

 may be found from the Grulf of Mexico so far to the northward 

 as forests extend.f Yet they rarely breed in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, and are not even common in winter. The constant 

 decrease of woodland in this part of the State has caused them 

 in a great measure to desert it, but in the forests of Maine 

 and New Hampshire they are abundant throughout the year. 

 Near Boston, they frequent orchards as much as the woods. 

 Excepting in being much less familiar toward man, and fonder 



Pig. 19. Hairjr Woodpecker. (J) 



* A resident of essentially the whole 

 of New England, breeding very com- 

 monly througlioat the heavy forests of 

 the northern tier of States, not uncom- 

 monly in the wilder and more elevated 

 parts of Worcester and Berkshire 

 connties, Massachnsetts, elsewhere 

 only very sparingly and locally. There 

 is sometimes a well-marked autumnal 

 migration through eastern Massachu- 

 setts, and in some seasons, during late 



October and early November, the spe- 

 cies is comparatively common' abont 

 Boston. — W.B. 



t The small dark form of the ex- 

 treme Southern States is now recog- 

 nized as a distinct subspecies, which is 

 called audubonii, while the large, light- 

 colored bird fonnd north of the United 

 States in British Ameripa has been also 

 separated, under the name leucomelas 

 — W.B. 



