Newton, Mass.
1901.
June 27
(No 7)
entered the street and soon after we seated ourselves
both of them appeared on the edge of the woods and
visited the nest in quick succession taking in food to
their young which kept up, more or less constantly, a
rather shrill twittering unlike that of any of our other Woodpeckers
Both of the old Woodpeckers were in full plumage
and most strikingly beautiful and conspicuous creatures
as they swung gracefully from tree to tree in the shade
of the woods or crossed the open ground on their way to
and from the stub. One which I took to be the male
and which had the red of the head of a darker shade
than the other, spent most of its time in the oak on
the edge of the grove evidently watching us for it would
sit nearly motionless in one place for several minutes
in succession usually perching crosswise on a stout, horizontal
branch well out from the trunk of the tree. Twice it
stretched itself out prone on the branch and lay there
for a minute or two with its wings widely spread. It
had several favorite perches of this character in this and
neighboring trees visiting them in succession and alighting
each time in nearly or quite the same spot on each.
It evidently felt the intense heat for it kept its bill wide
open much of the time. Every now and then it would 
fly out over the open field and after catching an insect
would wheel abruptly and return to the perch.
These flights sometimes extended to a distance of fully forty or
fifty yards. Some of these were performed on a level
plane; during others the bird descended and apparently
seized its prey among the tops of the taller grasses.
Occasionally it alighted on the ground and hopped
slowly about much in the manner of a Flicker.
98