446 
WOODPECKERS. 
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 
Melanerpes erythrocephalus. ^ 
Char. Back, tail, and primaries blue black ; head, neck, and breast 
crimson ; belly, rump, and secondaries white. Length 9 to 9^ inches 
tr In woodland, pasture, or orchard ; usually a cavity in a decayed 
Eggs. 4-6; glossy white; i.oo X 0.80. 
This common and well-known species is met with along the 
coast from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, and inland in 
the region of the Rocky Mountains and about the sources of 
the Mississippi. In all the intermediate country, however 
extensive, it probably resides and breeds. At the approach 
of winter, or about the middle of October, these birds migrate 
from the North and West, and consequently appear very 
numerous in the Southern States at that season. Many of 
them also probably pass into the adjoining provinces of Mex- 
ico, and they reappear in Pennsylvania (according to Wilson) 
about the first of May. According to Audubon, they effect 
their migration in the night, flying high above the trees in a 
straggling file, at which time they are heard to emit a sharp 
and peculiar note, easily heard from the ground, although the 
birds themselves are elevated beyond the sight. Like the 
Log-cock, the present species is but rarely seen in the mari- 
time parts of Massachusetts ; this region is only occasionally 
visited by solitary stragglers, yet in the western parts of the 
State it is said to be as common as in the Middle States. 
These birds live principally in old forests of tall trees, but are 
much less shy than most of the genus, frequently visiting the 
orchards in quest of ripe fruits, particularly cherries and juicy 
pears and apples, with which they likewise occasionally feed 
their young. They also at times eat acorns, of which they are 
said to lay up a store, and visit the maize-fields, being partial 
to the corn while in its juicy or milky state. In consequence 
of these dependent habits of subsistence, the Red-headed 
Woodpecker is a very familiar species, and even sometimes 
