From Maryland southward it prefers the heavily wooded bottom lands and 

 swamps to the hilly and dry forest, while in Texas I met with it mostly in the post- 

 oak woods, often in close proximity to farm-houses. In Florida it is found as 

 numerous in the flat pine woods as in the hammocks bordering streams and lakes. 

 Where the land has been cleared, and the girdled and dead trees are still found in all 

 states of decomposition, it has taken up its abode in great numbers. Usually it is a rather 

 shy and retired bird, but in the post oak woods near my cabin in Lee Co., Texas, it 

 was a very tame and familiar species, breeding close to the house. Its ordinary call-note 

 is entirely different from that of all other Woodpeckers, sounding like tarrruirrurrrurrr; 

 another sound, resembling the syllables cbow-cbow, is also frequently heard during the 

 breeding season. From this call-note it has received the name "Chow-chow" by the 

 boys of the Texas backwoods. These sounds are "occasionally varied with a disagree- 

 able creaking note, w^hile during the mating season peculiar low^, mournful cooing sounds 

 are sometimes uttered, which somewhat resemble those of the Mourning Dove." 



In its northern habitat it is a migrating species, arriving in spring usually in the 



first days of April. It nests in Texas preferably in dry limbs and dead tops of post 



oaks, in old stumps, etc., from fifteen to forty feet from the ground. In other parts of 



the South I have found the nest mostly in soft wooded trees, such as elms, red-buds, 



sycamores, cotton-woodg, and mulberry trees. Nest and eggs do not differ from those 



of other species. 



NAMES: Ked-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Woodpecker, "Chow-chow," Checkered Woodpecker, Zebrabird, 

 Zebra Woodpecker, Wood Chuck, Orange Woodpecker, Orange Sapsucker. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Picas carolinas Linn. (1766). Centurus carolinas Swains. (1838). MELANERPES 

 CAROLINUS RiDGw. (1874). 



DESCRIPTION: "Top of head and nape, crimson-red. Forehead, whitish, strongly tinged with light-red, a 

 shade of which is also seen on the cheek, still stronger on the middle of the belly. Under-parts, 

 brownish-white, with a faint wash of yellowish on the belly. Back, rump, and wing-covertB banded 

 black and white; upper tail-coverts, white, with occasional blotches. Tail-feathers, black; first trans- 

 versely banded with white ; second less so ; all the rest with whitish tips. Inner feathers banded with 

 white on the inner web; the outer web with a stripe of white along the middle. Female with the 

 crown, ashy; forehead, pale red; nape, light red." (B. B. & R., II, p. 554.) 

 Length, 9.75 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.50 inches. 



Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Melanerpes aurifrons Ridgway. This species is 

 mainly an inhabitant of eastern Mexico, north to the southern portion of central Texas. 



The Gila Woodpecker, Melanerpes uropygialis Ridgwav, ranges fi-om south-eastern 

 California, southern Arizona, south-western New Mexico south to Lower California, 

 Jalisco and Aguas Calientes, Mexico. 



