WOODPECKERS: RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 383 
While seen by us flying out of holes in the giant cactus above Tucson, 
it also nested in the live oaks of a ranch house at the foot of the Santa 
Ritas, and was noisy around our adjoining camp “in the sycamores, 
mesquites, and hackberries, frequently visiting the beef bones and 
bacon rind put out for its benefit and getting water from a dripping 
ranch faucet” (1923b, p. 23). 
In Indian villages on the Cila, French Gilman found the Gila 
Woodpecker almost domesticated. As he explains, “The Indians store 
corn in the ear on the flat tops of their houses and sheds, and each home 
has one or more Woodpecker retainers hanging about most of the time.” 
By putting out feeding tables, Mr. Gilman was able to get good photo¬ 
graphs and to study the animated birds at close range. He says that 
they would come regularly for food and did not hesitate to call loudly 
for breakfast if it was much delayed. 
In his interesting paper, he asks pertinently, “Were it not for the 
Gila Woodpecker, what would become of the several species of birds 
that use already prepared cavities for their domiciles?” “ In some cases,” 
he goes on, “these tenants do not even await the pleasure of the ex¬ 
cavators, but take forcible possession.” Among the nesting tenants he 
found the Elf Owl, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Ash-throated Flycatcher, 
and Arizona Crested Flycatcher. Occasionally, he adds, “a Cactus 
Wren makes use of the handy hollow. . . . A big‘ roughneck’ scaly lizard 
frequents the holes when not too high in the cactus, and in two holes in 
willow trees I found snakes.” The lizards and snakes surprised in their 
borrowed dens quite naturally crawl up your arm to escape, and rats 
and mice taking refuge in the deserted holes also quite naturally pop out 
into your face; but however unpleasant such surprises may be, the 
original excavators must be acknowledged as unwitting benefactors of 
their many neighbors (1915b, pp. 152-153). 
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER: Melanerpes ery throe ephalus (Linnaeus) 
Plate 38 
Description. — Male: Wing 5-5.9 inches, tail 2.8-3.2, bill 1-1.1, tarsus .8-1. 
Female: Wing 5-5.7 inches, tail 2.6-3.3, bill 1.1-1.2, tarsus .8-.9. Adults: Entire 
head and neck solid crimson; back, wings, and tail mainly black (the back glossy 
blue-black or greenish black); wing patch (secondaries), base of tail (rump and upper 
tail coverts) and underparts white; belly more or less tinged with yellowish or 
reddish; iris brown or reddish brown, bill bluish gray, bluish white basally, legs 
greenish gray. Young in juvenal plumage: Similar to adults, but feathers of head 
and nape blackish basally with grayish brown borders, throat and breast grayish, 
streaked with black, occasionally with a few red feathers; back and wing coverts 
black, edged with brown. 
Range. —Transition and Austral Zones from British Columbia, Alberta, southern 
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and 
New Mexico; recorded from Utah and Arizona. 
