36 



OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



even a splendid pair of Pileated which have so 

 far escaped the persecution of hunters. They 

 are all more or less red-headed, at least the 

 males of each species having a scarlet patch on 



the crown. But the bright- 

 est colored and noisiest, as 

 alas ! the most mischievous 

 of all, is Redhead himself. 

 His mischief is confined 

 chiefly to the robbing of 

 other birds' nests, but 

 whether by this or by his 

 scolding, quarrelsome ways, 

 he has given all his kin a 

 bad name. 



Redhead is the most bril- 

 liantly colored creature in 

 our winter landscape, and 

 flies boldly about our lawns 

 and fields without fearing 

 to display his colors or to 

 sound his loud cries, some- 

 times scolding pointedly at 

 a dog or a person who seems to him to be tres- 

 passing on his domain. His home is worth 

 climbing up to see; the safest, most comfortable 

 nest, one would say, in the whole bird kingdom. 

 Its entrance is perfectly circular as if marked 

 out with a compass; in the bottom, on a bed of 



REDHEADED 

 WOODPECKER 

 Length 9 % inches 



