276 THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



Martins or Blue-birds, as well as the pigeon-houses, and are often successful. 

 The corn, as it ripens, is laid bare by their bill, when they feed on the top 

 parts of the ear, and leave the rest either to the Grakles or the Squirrels, or 

 still worse, to decay, after a shower has fallen upon it. 



All this while the Red-heads are full of gaiety. No sooner have they 

 satisfied their hunger, than small parties of them assemble on the tops and 

 branches of decayed trees, from which they chase different insects that are 

 passing through the air, launching after them for eight or ten yards, at times 

 performing the most singular manoeuvres, and, on securing their victim, 

 return to the tree, where, immediately after, a continued cry of exultation is 

 uttered. They chase each other on wing in a very amicable manner, in 

 long, beautifully curved sweeps, during which the remarkable variety of 

 their plumage becomes conspicuous, and is highly pleasing to the eye. 

 When passing from one tree to another, their flight resembles the motion of 

 a great swing, and is performed by a single opening of the wings, descending 

 at first, and rising towards the spot on which they are going to alight with 

 ease, and in the most graceful manner. They move upwards, sidewise, or 

 backwards, without apparent effort, but seldom with the head downwards, as 

 Nuthatches and some smaller species of Woodpeckers are wont to do. 



Their curving from one tree to another, in the manner just described, is 

 frequently performed as if they intended to attack a bird of their own 

 species; and it is amusing to see the activity with which the latter baffles his 

 antagonist, as he scrambles sidewise round the tree with astonishing celerity, 

 in the same manner in which one of these birds, suspecting a man armed 

 with a gun, will keep winding round the trunk of a tree, until a good oppor- 

 tunity presents itself of sailing off to another. In this manner a man may 

 follow from one tree to another over a whole field, without procuring a shot, 

 unless he watches his opportunity and fires while the bird is on wing. On 

 the ground, this species is by no means awkward, as it hops there with ease, 

 and secures beetles which it had espied whilst on the fence or a tree. 



It is seldom that a nest newly perforated by these birds is to be found, as 

 they generally resort to those of preceding years, contenting themselves with 

 working them a little deeper. These holes are found not only in every 

 decaying tree, but often to the number of ten or a dozen in a single trunk, 

 some just begun, others far advanced, and others ready to receive the eggs. 

 The great number of these holes, thus left in different stages, depends upon 

 the difficulties which the bird may experience in finishing them; for when- 

 ever it finds the wood hard and difficult to be bored, it tries another spot. 

 So few green or living trees are perforated by this species, that I cannot at 

 the present moment recollect having seen a single instance of such an 

 occurrence. 



