WOODPECKERS 



(395) Dryobates borealis 



[Vieill) (Lat., northern — not an appro- 

 priate name for this species). 



RED-COCK A DED WOOD- 

 PECKER. Plumage as shown, the 

 cP having a scarlet spot on either 

 side of the black crown, the 9 lack- 

 ing the scarlet; back conspicuously 

 barred with black and white. L., 

 8.^5; W., 4.6o; T., 3.50. 



Range — From Va. and Mo. south 

 to the Gulf. 



f396) Dryobates scalaris 



bairdi {Malherhc). 



TEXAS WOODPECKER. Plum- 

 age as shown by the lower bird, cf 

 with the crown scarlet, specked with 

 white; 9 with a black crown. L. 



7--S- 



Range — Central Tex., Col., and 

 Cal. southward. 



with an auger; the interior is larger and is hollowed out to 

 a depth of si.x to twenty inches. No lining is used except 

 a few fine chips that are left on the bottom of the cavity. 

 Although a half dozen young woodpeckers inay be crowded 

 in a rather small limb, the interior of the nest is always kept 

 clean by the parents, both of which look after the wants 

 of the young. A new site and a new cavity are usually 

 made each year, the old ones being left to chickadees, nut- 

 hatches, and other birds that nest in holes. 



RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS are abundant in 

 pine forests of the Southern States, in which they largely 

 take the places of the two preceding species. They are at 

 all times quite noisy, especially so during the mating and 

 ■ breeding season, when their loud, harsh voices, uttering the 

 notes which can perhaps best be recorded as "nyank, 

 nyank, " may be heard at almost all hours of the day. Their 

 nests are usually made in decaying hearts of \iymg pines; 

 they often bore through two or three inches of li\-ing wood 

 before reaching the softer interior that they can more easily 



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