Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0044/00443.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 17KB | 259 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00443}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Red-headed Woodpecker}
$Subject{Picinae; Picus; Melanerpes; erythrocephalus; Red-headed Woodpecker}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume IV}
$Volume{Vol. 4:274-279}
$Family{Picinae}
$Genus{Picus; Melanerpes}
$Species{erythrocephalus}
$Common_Name{Red-headed Woodpecker}
$Log{
Plate CCLXXI*00443P1.scf
Family*00423.txt
Genus*00424.txt
}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  IV.
                        --------------------------------


                           THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.
                            [Red-headed Woodpecker.]


                          PICUS ERYTHROCEPHALUS, Linn.
                         [Melanerpes erythrocephalus.]


                    PLATE CCLXXI.--MALE, FEMALE, and YOUNG.


     You have now, kind reader, under consideration a species of Woodpecker, the
general habits of which are so well known in our United States, that, were I
assured of your having traversed the woods of America, I should feel disposed to
say little about them.
     The Red-heads (by which name this species is usually designated) may be
considered as residents of the United States, inasmuch as many of them remain in
the Southern Districts during the whole winter, and breed there in summer.  The
greater number, however, pass to countries farther south.  Their migration takes
place under night, is commenced in the middle of September, and continues for a
month or six weeks.  They then fly very high above the trees, far apart, like a
disbanded army, propelling themselves by reiterated flaps of the wings, at the
end of each successive curve which they describe in their flight.  The note
which they emit at this time is different from the usual one, sharp and easily
heard from the ground, although the birds may be out of sight.  This note is
continued, as if it were necessary for keeping the straggling party in good
humour.  At dawn of day, the whole alight on the tops of the dead trees about
the plantations, and remain in search of food until the approach of sunset, when
they again, one after another, mount the air, and continue their journey.
     With the exception of the Mocking-bird, I know no species so gay and
frolicksome.  Indeed, their whole life is one of pleasure.  They find a
superabundance of food everywhere, as well as the best facilities for raising
their broods.  The little labour which they perform is itself a source of
enjoyment, for it is undertaken either with an assurance of procuring the nicest
dainties, or for the purpose of excavating a hole for the reception of
themselves, their eggs, or their families.  They do not seem to be much afraid
of man, although they have scarcely a more dangerous enemy.  When alighted on a
fence-stake by the road, or in a field, and one approaches them, they gradually
move sidewise out of sight, peeping now and then to discover your intention; and
when you are quite close and opposite, lie still until you are past, when they
hop to the top of the stake, and rattle upon it with their bill, as if to
congratulate themselves on the success of their cunning.  Should you approach
within arm's length, which may frequently be done, the Woodpecker flies to the
next stake or the second from you, bends his head to peep, and rattles again, as
if to provoke you to a continuance of what seems to him excellent sport.  He
alights on the roof of the house, hops along it, beats the shingles, utters a
cry, and dives into your garden to pick the finest strawberries which he can
discover.
     I would not recommend to any one to trust their fruit to the Red-heads; for
they not only feed on all kinds as they ripen, but destroy an immense quantity
besides.  No sooner are the cherries seen to redden, than these birds attack
them.  They arrive on all sides, coming from a distance of miles, and seem the
while to care little about the satisfaction you might feel in eating some also.
Trees of this kind are stripped clean by them.  When one has alighted and tasted
the first cherry, he utters his call-note, jerks his tail, nods his head, and at
it again in an instant.  When fatigued, he loads his bill with one or two, and
away to his nest, to supply his young.
     It is impossible to form any estimate of the number of these birds seen in
the United States during the summer months; but this much I may safely assert,
that a hundred have been shot upon a single cherry-tree in one day.  Pears,
peaches, apples, figs, mulberries, and even peas, are thus attacked.  I am not
disposed to add to these depredations those which they commit upon the corn,
either when young and juicy, or when approaching maturity, lest I should seem
too anxious to heap accusations upon individuals, who, although culprits, are
possessed of many undeniably valuable qualities.
     But to return:--They feed on apples as well as on other fruit, and carry
them off by thrusting into them their sharp bills when open, with all their
force, when they fly away to a fence-stake or a tree, and devour them at
leisure.  They have another bad habit, which is that of sucking the eggs of
small birds.  For this purpose, they frequently try to enter the boxes of the
Martins or Blue-birds, as well as the pigeon-houses, and are often successful.
The corn, as it ripens, is laid bare by their bill, when they feed on the top
parts of the ear, and leave the rest either to the Grakles or the Squirrels, or
still worse, to decay, after a shower has fallen upon it.
     All this while the Red-heads are full of gaiety.  No sooner have they
satisfied their hunger, than small parties of them assemble on the tops and
branches of decayed trees, from which they chase different insects that are
passing through the air, launching after them for eight or ten yards, at times
performing the most singular manoeuvres, and, on securing their victim, return
to the tree, where, immediately after, a continued cry of exultation is uttered.
They chase each other on wing in a very amicable manner, in long, beautifully
curved sweeps, during which the remarkable variety of their plumage becomes
conspicuous, and is highly pleasing to the eye.  When passing from one tree to
another, their flight resembles the motion of a great swing, and is performed by
a single opening of the wings, descending at first, and rising towards the spot
on which they are going to alight with ease, and in the most graceful manner.
They move upwards, sidewise, or backwards, without apparent effort, but seldom
with the head downwards, as Nuthatches and some smaller species of Woodpeckers
are wont to do.
     Their curving from one tree to another, in the manner just described, is
frequently performed as if they intended to attack a bird of their own species;
and it is amusing to see the activity with which the latter baffles his
antagonist, as he scrambles sidewise round the tree with astonishing celerity,
in the same manner in which one of these birds, suspecting a man armed with a
gun, will keep winding round the trunk of a tree, until a good opportunity
presents itself of sailing off to another.  In this manner a man may follow from
one tree to another over a whole field, without procuring a shot, unless he
watches his opportunity and fires while the bird is on wing.  On the ground,
this species is by no means awkward, as it hops there with ease, and secures
beetles which it had espied whilst on the fence or a tree.
     It is seldom that a nest newly perforated by these birds is to be found, as
they generally resort to those of preceding years, contenting themselves with
working them a little deeper.  These holes are found not only in every decaying
tree, but often to the number of ten or a dozen in a single trunk, some just
begun, others far advanced, and others ready to receive the eggs.  Th