PEPEEEDTAL ETH 
OF NEW ENGLAND. 317° 
that of a species of tree-frog which frequents the same tree, 
that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the one from the 
other.” 
Wilson eloquently defends this bird, proving his beneficial 
nature. He adds: ‘The Red-headed Woodpecker is, properly 
speaking, a bird-of passage; tho even in the eastern states 
individuals are found during moderate winters, as well as in 
the states of New York and Pennsylvania; in Carolina they 
are somewhat more numerous during that season; but not one 
tenth of what are found in summer. They make their appear- 
ance in Pennsylvania about the first of May; and leave us 
about the middle of October.” 
III. SPHYRAPICUS 
(A) varius. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker.1! 
(In Massachusetts, chiefly a migrant.) 
(a). About 83 inches long. Wings and tail, black and 
white. Above, brownish or yellowish, marked with black. Be- 
neath, yellowish ; sides black-streaked. Crown-patch, scarlet ; 
throat-patch, scarlet, or in 9 whitish. Border of both patches, 
and eye-stripe, black. Head otherwise white or yellowish. 
(b). The nest is to be found in woods or sometimes or- 
chards. The eggs of each set are four or five, and average 
about °95 & -80 of aninch. See I, A, b. 
(c). The Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers probably occur in 
Eastern Massachusetts as migrants only, though summer-resi- 
dents to the westward (“beyond Springfield”), and to the 
northward, as in Canada, or the northernmost parts of New 
England, where they are quite common. Near Boston, I have 
seen them about the middle of April, and again in October, 
but I have always found them rare. They are somewhat shy, 
and usually silent. They travel singly or in pairs, and fre- 
quent woods rather than orchards. I have seen a pair, how- 
ever, on a pine-tree, so near a house, that they were fired at 
with a parlor-rifle from the windows. As each bullet struck 
114A Mexican species, Ceniurus aurifrons, bears the same name. 
