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406. Red-headed Woodpecker. Melanerpes erythrocephalus. L, 9-75. Plate 
XXXVI B. Solidly black above, with secondaries and rump pure white; head, neck, and 
upper breast bright crimson red; below, white. The juvenile has the red of head and 
neck replaced by dusky ash, and the blacks and whites edged and obscured with the same. 
Distinctions. The solid red head and the conspicuous black and white in large, un- 
broken masses, can be mistaken for no other species. 
Field Marks. The red head and contrasting masses of black and white on the body, 
especially the large amount of white in the wings. 
Nesting. In cavity excavated in dead tree or stub. 
Distribution. Most of eastern and central North America, from southern Canada, 
south to the gulf of Mexico. In western Canada, along the southern border as far west as 
Alberta. 
SUBSPECIES. Birds from the western prairies are somewhat larger than eastern 
ones, and have been described as a separate subspecies, the Western Redheaded Wood- 
pecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus erythrocephalus, but the form has not, as yet, been 
recognized by the American Ornithologists’ Union Committee. The author is unable to 
say which form is represented in Manitoba. 
The Red-headed Woodpecker is not common enough in western 
Canada to be of much economic importance. 
408. Lewis’s Woodpecker. Asyndesmus lewisi. L, 10-50. Plate XXXVII A. 
A solidly black-backed Woodpecker. Abdomen an intimate mixture of rose and grey 
(mostly rose) with peculiar hairy effect; breast of similar texture, but grey, and continuing 
about neck in a narrow collar. Face and chin dull, dark crimson. Juvenile similar but 
without red face or grey collar, and the rose below, duller. 
Distinctions. The solid black back, grey collar and breast, and peculiar streaky rose 
underparts can be mistaken for no other bird likely to occur in Canada. 
Field Marks. All black back and rose underparts, with characteristic flycatching 
habits. 
Nesting. In holes excavated in trees and stubs. 
Distribution. Western north America, from southern British Columbia, south to New 
Mexico. In Canada, mostly west of the Rocky mountains, but occasional as far east as 
Saskatchewan. 
Lewis’s Woodpecker is a conspicuous bird in southern British Columbia. 
Its habit of frequenting the tops of tall, isolated trees, and flying out from 
them, making short circles and returning, or passing back and forth between 
adjoining trees, well out in the open, would attract attention at once, even 
if the birds were not so noisy. The shiny black backs and rosy under- 
parts enhance their ornamental value. 
Economic Status. There are strong, and at least partly, substanti- 
ated complaints against them as fruit-eaters. When they confine their 
attention to wild varieties, no harm is done, but they take cultivated 
varieties, and may on occasion cause some loss where fruit-raising is an 
important industry. No complete study of their food habits has been 
made, but such evidence as we have indicates that the bird on the whole, 
and throughout the year, is largely insectivorous. It does not delve into 
wood for grubs as much as other Woodpeckers do, but takes a considerable 
number of beetles, ants, and other hymenoptera, a few bugs, and some 
grasshoppers. Normally, about 15 per cent of the total food supply is 
fruit. Though undoubtedly too many fruiteating birds in a fruit-growing 
district is a handicap, the species is never anything more than a local 
problem, and further investigation in field and laboratory is necessary to 
fix its definite economic status. 
412. Flicker (Including Boreal Flicker), yellow-hammer, highhole. golden- 
wlnged woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. L, 12. Plate XXXVII B. Greyish fawn on back, 
with broken bars of black; vinaceous face and throat fading to white below; light underparts 
