Melanerpes carolinus Eating Oranges.— As corroborating Dr. Warren’s 
account in his late report on the birds of Pennsylvania, it may be worth 
while to state that when at Enterprise, Florida, in February, 1889 , I ob- 
served a Red-bellied Woodpecker eating the pulp of a sweet orange’. He 
flew down to the ground and, hopping along rather clumsily, approached 
an orange, and for several minutes pecked at it in a slow deliberate way 
When I showed myself he at once took flight, and sought shelter in the 
dense foliage of the trees above. Upon examining the orange, I found 
that it was decayed through the whole of one side. In the sound portion 
were three holes, each nearly as large as a silver dollar, with narrow strips 
of peel between them. The pulp had been eaten out quite to the middle 
of the fruit. Small pieces of rind were thickly strewn about the spot 
Upon searching closely I discovered several other oranges that h^d been 
attacked in a similar manner. All were partially decayed, and were lying 
on the ground. I was unable to find any on the trees which showed any 
marks of the Woodpecker’s bill. The owner of this grove was surprised 
when I called his attention to the above facts, which were quite new to 
him. Nor had any of the other orange growers in the neighborhood any 
knowledge of this orange-eating habit of the Red-bellied Woodpecker.— 
William Brewster, Cambridge , Mass. 
£ m k,vi.0ct., 188&.P. 337 - 33 %* 
