414 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



a hundred grasshoppers of all sizes (for future use, as later observation proved), which 

 were put in without killing them, but they were so firmly wedged in the crack that 

 they in vain tried to get Iree. I told this to a couple of farmers, and found that they 

 had also seen the same thing, and showed me posts which were used for the same pur- 

 pose. Later in the season the Woodpecker whose station was near my house, commenced 

 to use his stores, and to-day (Feb. 10), there are only a few shriveled-up grasshoppers left." 



Many of our close and conscientious observers have seen this Woodpecker rob, the 

 nests of other birds of their eggs and young. Famous ornithologists, like Mr. Otto 

 Widmann, Major Chas. Bendire, Dr. Wm. L. Ralph, etc., report of the Red-heacJ's canni- 

 balism. There can be no doubt that this accusation is true, but I infer that it is only 

 an individual trait and that not all these birds can be charged with robbery and murder. 

 I have never caught the Red-heads in the act of doing piischief in this way, although I 

 have observed them abundantly since my childhood days. To me this exquisitely beau- 

 tiful bird has always appeared highly poetical, and I would not place it on the same 

 line with such scoundrels and robbers as the Blue Jay, the Magpie, etc. 



How anticipating and suggestive of the beautiful spring time are its melodious 

 and far-sounding call-notes ! Incessantly the loud burrr-harrr is heard during the fine 

 days of May and June, when the male plays hide and seek with his equally beautiful 

 mate on an old stump. His drumming on some resonant dry limb is frequently heard 

 when frolicking and playing with his mate. Often the pair are chasing each other in a 

 playful mood from tree to tree, and at such times they utter a rather noisy cbarr-charr. 

 The alarm is expressed by a harsh rattling note. Mr. Otto Widmann says that they 

 also utter a note that is so similar to that of the tree-frog {Hyla arborea) , that it is 

 undistinguishable from it, and that both bird and frog sometimes answer each other. 

 The coloration of this Woodpecker is exceptionally beautiful, the deep red of the head 

 is harmonizing perfectly with the bluish-black mantle and the white vest. When spread- 

 ing its wings and flying in an undulating way over a small treeless area, its colors are 

 very striking. I have often stopped with admiration when a pair of these birds had 

 alighted on the top of an old stump, and both were calling their loud and melodious 

 notes. It is indeed one of our most beautiful birds, as it is also one of the most familiar 

 where it feels safe. In spite of its pilfering propensities it ought to be protected where- 

 ever found. As it is nowhere occurring in great numbers, the injuries it commits cannot 

 be very serious. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker habitually nestH in dead tops of deciduous trees or in 

 old stumps from ten to fifty feet from the ground. It usually selects sugar maples, 

 beeches, elms, ashes, etc., and I have also found it in red cedars, tamaracks, and white 

 cedars. On the prairies it is said to excavate often a nesting hole in telegraph or 

 fence posts. The eggs, five to six in number, are of a glossy white color. 

 NAMES: Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-head. — Rotkopfspecht (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Picus erytbrocephalusUtm. (1766). MBLANERPES ERYTHROCBPHALVS Siw\ms. 

 (1831). 



DESCRIPTION: Sexes alike. "Head and neck all round crimson-red, margined by a narrow crescent of 

 black on the upper part of breast. Back, primary quills, and tail, bluish-black. Under-parts generally, 

 a broad band across the middle of the wing, and the rump, white," (B. B. & R., II, p. 564.) 

 Length about 9.75 inches ; wing, 5.50 ; tail, 3.68 inches. 



