256 RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 



dusk, where they probably remained all night; and in cold drizzly weather 

 I have observed them doing the same at various hours of the day. When 

 wounded, I have several times seen them making toward these retreats. 

 There is little difference between the sexes, excepting that the red line over 

 the eye is wanting in the female. Wilson's measurements are less than 

 those of any individuals which I have examined. 



It is generally believed that all Woodpeckers are strictly insectivorous; 

 but this opinion is by no means correct, for many species feed on grain and 

 fruits of various kinds. Some of them even come to the ground to search 

 for those which have fallen from the trees, as I found to be the case with the 

 present species, which I repeatedly observed so occupied in the Pine Barrens 

 of the Floridas. On such occasions it is always silent. It moves in pairs 

 at all seasons, and is extremely pugnacious during the period of incubation, 

 when each male is constantly giving chase to intruders of its own kind. 

 During these encounters, its cries are incessant, and much louder and sharper 

 than on more ordinary occasions. 



Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Picus querulus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 103. 



Picds querulus, Bonap. Syn., p. 46. 



Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 577. 



Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Picics querulus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 12. 



Male, 81, 141 Female, 7f, 134. 



From Texas to New Jersey, along the Atlantic districts. Common. In 

 the interior to Lower Mississippi. Resident. 



Adult Male. 



Bill somewhat shorter than the head, straight, rather slender, tapering, 

 angular, at the point compressed and abrupt; upper mandible with the dorsal 

 line straight, the ridge sharp, the sides sloping, the nasal groove with a 

 prominent narrow ridge, rather nearer the ridge than the edge at its com- 

 mencement, but joining the latter about a third from the tip, the edges sharp 

 and direct; lower mandible with the angle rather short and narrow, the 

 dorsal line straight, the ridge sharp, the edges convex toward the end, the 

 tip compressed, but abrupt. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear-oblong, broader at 

 the base. 



Head of moderate size, ovate, convex above; neck rather short; body 

 moderate. Feet short, rather slender; tarsus short, anteriorly scutellate, 

 laterally covered with angular scales, posteriorly with a row of narrow 

 scutella; toes four; the first short, the second next in length, the fourth 

 directed outwards and backwards, and longer than the third; claws large, 

 strongly arched, compressed, deeply grooved on the sides, tapering to a very 

 acute point. 



