172 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



probably only local. These reports have been received from 

 hundreds of localities, but in thousands of other places where 

 the bird abounds no such acts have been observed. Stomach 

 examination confirms to some extent the corn-eating habit, and 

 to a less degree the fruit-eating, but fails entirely to show that 

 the bird habitually eats young birds or eggs. Where this bird 

 has done appreciable harm, it has probably been due to new 

 and unusual conditions likely to be temporary. * * * On the 

 whole, there seems to be no reason to condemn the woodpecker 

 except under very unusual conditions.* 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER; ZEBRA WOODPECKER; 



"GUINEA SAPSUCKER" : Centurus carolinus 



(Linnaeus) . 



State records. — The red-bellied woodpecker (fig. 9) is one 

 of the commonest and most widely distributed of its family 

 in the State, inhabiting usually timbered bottoms, swamps, 

 and upland groves. Being nonmigratory it is about equally 

 common in summer and winter. At HoUins, Saunders saw 

 a female feeding young in the nest, April 27, and at Pratt- 

 ville Gk)lsan found fresh eggs July 11. Evidently two broods 

 are reared in a season, since nests have been found at Leigh - 

 ton on April 16 and July 27. 



General habits. — Heavy, bottomland timber is the favorite 

 habitat of this species in the South, though in some regions it 

 •s found in upland groves or orchards, and even about door- 

 yarc's and gardens. It is usually rather shy and in habits 

 and call notes resembles the red-headed woodpecker. It is a 

 rather noisy bird, giving frequent vent to its emphatic churr- 

 churr or chow-chow. 



The nesting site usually is a hollow in a decayed stump or 

 tree, the softer varieties, such as elm, poplar, willow, syca- 

 more, chestnut, and pine, being preferred; telegraph poles 

 also are sometimes utilized. The nest holes range from 5 to 

 70 feet from the ground and are usually 10 or 12 inches deep. 



Food habits. — This woodpecker feeds upon both insects and 

 vegetable matter, but the latter forms more than two-thirds 

 of the total food. Mast (acorns, beechnuts, hazelnuts, and 



•Beal, F. E. L., Biol. Surv. Bull. 87, p. 42, 1911. 



