page [22] 28 Jun 1901 (seq. 24)

22
Newtonville, Mass.
1901
June 28

Melanerpes erythrocephalus
This afternoon Will Brewster and I took
the electrics to Newtonville to visit the Red-
headed Woodpeckers breeding there. The spot
lies off Cabot St. by the side of a private
road, where some twenty yards from a
knoll covered with oaks and maples, in
an open stretch of meadow stands a
red maple stump with almost no bark
on and about 25 feet high, 1 1/2 ft. in diam.
at base. Five feet below the top where
the stump, much resembling a bare tele-
graph pole, is about 1 ft. through is the
hole, irregular in shape. There are a
good many other woodpeckers' holes over
the stump. The two birds in fine
breeding plummage flew about close by
among the trees, and at intervals, one
would catch an insect and flying to
the hole, would generally alight on a
short dead branch just above the nest, and
after a moment's survey, enter the hole,
reappearing very quickly. The birds are
flycatchers, launching off from a branch
and picking an insect from the air or
the top of the grass blade and then
returning to the perch. At times one
would alight in the grass and hop about.
We saw the birds enter the hole five times.
They chattered constantly, much like a tree
toad. We heard the young calling in the hole
A house was about 100 yds away. We staid 1/2 hr to 1 hr.
The red, black and white of the birds was very conspicuous.