WOODPECKERS. 233 



tant resemblance to the mew of the Catbird " (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 

 i, 1876, p. 69). 



The Sapsucker feeds largely on the juices of trees, which it obtains 

 by perforating the bark. (See Bolles, Auk. viii, 1891, p. 256; ix, 1892, 

 p. 110.) 



405. CeophlcBus pileatus {Linn.). Pileated "Woodpeckee. Ad. i . 

 — Upper parts blackish lusoous; whole top of the head scarlet, the feathers 

 lengthened to form a crest ; a narrow white stripe bordering this crest sepa- 

 rates it from the fuscous ear-coverts ; a stripe beginning at the nostril and 

 passing down the sides of the neck to the shoulders is tinged with yellow 

 before the eye and is white back of the eye ; it is separated from the white 

 throat by a scarlet stripe at the base of the lower mandible ; basal half of the 

 wing-feathers white; under parts fuscous, the feathers sometimes lightly 

 margined with white ; bill horn-oolor. Ad. 9 .—Similar, but without red on 

 the fore part of the crown or at the base of the lower mandible. L., lY'OO ; 

 W., 8-90; T., 6-20; B., 1-85. 



Range. — "Formerly whole wooded region of North America; now rare or 

 extii-pated in the more thickly settled parts of the Eastern States." 



Washington, rare P. E. 



Nest, twenty-five to eighty feet from the ground. Eggs, four to six, 1-30 

 X -94. 



This species is common only in the wilder parts of its range. In 

 the hummocks and cypress swamps of Florida it occurs in numbers. 

 There, contrary to the experience of Audubon, I found it by no means 

 a wild bird. Indeed, Flickers were more difficult to approach. On 

 the Suwauee River, in March, 1 have called these birds to me by sim- 

 ply clapping my slightly closed palms, making a sound in imitation 

 of their tapping on a resonant limb. 



The flight of this species is rather slow, but usually direct, not 

 undulating, as in most Woodpeckers. When under way the white 

 markings of the wings show conspicuously. Their usual call-note is a 

 sonorous cow-cow-cow, repeated rather slowly many times, suggesting 

 a somewhat similar call of the Flicker's. Like the Flicker, they have 

 also a ivichew note uttered when two birds come together. 



406. Melanerpeserythrocephalusfijmn..). Eed-headed Wood- 

 pecker. Ad, — Head, neck, throat, and upper breast deep red ; upper back, 

 primaries, bases of the secondaries, and wing-coverts bluish black ; end half 

 of the secondaries, rump, and upper tail-coverts white; tail black, the feath- 

 ers more or less tipped or margined with white ; lower breast and belly white, 

 the middle of the latter generally tinged with reddish. Im. — Red head and 

 neck of the adult replaced by mixed grayish brown and fuscous ; upper back 

 bluish black, barred with ashy ; primaries and wing-coverts black ; end half 

 of the secondaries irregularly barred with black ; tail black, generally tipped 

 with white ; lower breast and belly white, more or less Streaked or spotted 

 with fuscous. L., 9-76; W., 5-52; T., 3-30; B., 1-17. 



