386 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
traveling along the lines of telegraph poles which follow the railroads’’ 
(1918, p. 122). Other possibilities also enter in here. Not only would 
the cottonwoods along the river valleys have helped to carry the Wood¬ 
peckers across the plains, but as Doctor Oberholser has pointed out, 
since prairie fires have been stopped by the fencing of the land, besides 
the natural extension of the growth of mesquite, wooded areas have 
been increased by planting. 
In any case the handsome Red-head, one of the most attractive birds 
of the north and east, but also unfortunately one of the easiest targets 
for the unthinking, had nearly crossed New Mexico, when it apparently 
disappeared. What relation, if any, this apparent disappearance bore to 
food habits, natural and acquired, is worth investigating. The diet of 
the Red-heads is so much more general, less animal and more vegetable, 
than that of the forest inhabiting woodpeckers, which live largely on 
woodborers, that “their tongues are much less extensible and the barbs 
near the tips are replaced by hair-like processes” (Henderson). In the 
East, in the beech wood part of New York, Doctor Merriam found that a 
good beechnut year meant a good Red-headed Woodpecker and gray 
squirrel year, the Red-heads wandering in search of food in the off 
years (1884, p. 226). Acorns and other mast and wild fruits are also 
favorite natural foods. The fruits and insects of the river valleys may 
well give them what they need in the breeding season, but after that 
would they not naturally wander up into the oak country and the pinyon 
belt for winter food, the oaks supplying acorns arid the pinyon pines 
delicious little pinyon nuts quite comparable to the beechnut of the 
East? This is one of the many interesting questions for the field worker 
in New Mexico to investigate. 
Should the Red-head again increase to the extent of raising a question 
of its economic status, Professor Beal’s statement that any appreciable 
harm that it has done in the past 11 has probably been due to new and 
unusual conditions likely to be temporary” (1911, p. 42), should be 
borne in mind, and, when possible, measures taken to substitute wild 
fruits for cultivated, nesting boxes for telegraph poles, and perhaps to 
plant oaks where they will do well. But still more important—all those 
interested in the preservation of New Mexico’s most attractive birds 
should work together intelligently for the Red-Head’s protection. 
Additional Literature.—Hay, O. P., Auk, IV, 193-196, 1887— Leopold, 
Aldo, Condor, XXI, 40, 173-174, 1919.— Miller, O. T., Little Brothers of the 
Air, 211-220, 1892. 
MEARNS WOODPECKER: Balanosphyra formicivora acule&ta (Mearns) 
Plate 39 
Description. — Male: Length 7.7-9 inches, wing 5.3-5.8, tail 2.7-3.2, bill .9-1, 
tarsus .7-8. Female: Length 7.5-8.6 inches, wing 5.2-5.7, tail 2.6-3.2, bill .8-1, 
tarsus .8-.9 Adult male: Feathers around base of bill black , bordered by white 
