OF NEW ENGLAND. 315 
though merry sound, and finally a lower note, chiefly of affec- 
tion, to which many of their names owe their origin, such as that 
of “flicker.” This last cry is a series of dissyllabic notes, and 
sounds like wick’-a-wick'-a-wick’-a-wick'-a-wick'-a-wick'-a. This 
is rarely heard unless two birds are together. 
The Golden-winged Woodpeckers are undoubtedly less bene- 
ficial than many others of their tribe, but they never do enough 
injury to warrant their death at the hands of farmers. They 
-are, however, but little molested, I believe, except by young 
‘sportsmen. 
Il. MELANERPES ‘ 
(A) ERYTHROCEPHALUS.!0 Red-headed Woodpecker. 
(Scarcely now to be ranked as a bird of Massachusetts.) 
(a). About 93 inches long. Head, crimson. Interscapu- 
lars, wings, and tail, blue-black, highly glossed on the back 
and shoulders. Other parts (and the secondaries), white. 
(0). The eggs average about 1:10 x °85 of an inch. See 
I, A, 6. 
(c). The Red-headed Woodpeckers were once common about 
Boston, but I have seen but one within the last five years. I 
know no part of New England where they are not rare, and 
I shall therefore quote a large part of Wilson’s biography of 
this species. ‘There is perhaps no bird in North America 
more universally known than this. His tri-colored plumage, 
pa SSI te red, white, and black glossed with steel blue, is so striking, 
and characteristic; and his predatory habits in the orchards 
and corn fields, added to his numbers and fondness for hover- 
ing along the fences, so very notorious, that almost every child 
is acquainted with the Red-headed Woodpecker. In the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of our large cities, where the old timber 
is chiefly cut down, he is not so frequently found; and yet at 
this present time, June, 1808, I know of several of their nests 
within the boundaries of the city of Philadelphia. Two of 
10 The Red-bellied Woodpecker (Centurus Carolinensis, with the crown and nape 
bright red, or in the female partly so) may rarely occur in New England. 
