As soon as the Red-heads have begun to visit a cherry or an apple tree, a pole is placed along the trunk of the tree, passing up amongst the central branches, and extending six or seven feet beyond the highest twigs. The Woodpeckers alight by preference on the pole, and while their body is close to it, a man standing at the foot of the pole gives it a smart blow with the head of an axe, on the opposite side to that on which the Woodpecker is, when, in consequence of the sudden and violent vibration produced in the upper part, the bird is thrown off dead. A specimen in the Museum of the Hudson's Bay Company is stated to have been brought from the Columbia river. I found none in Newfoundland or Labrador, though it is not uncommon in Nova Scotia, from whence I have traced it to the Texas, where it breeds. Syn., p. 45.
Great numbers spend the winter in Louisiana.
Nostrils basal, elliptical, direct, open. Plumage glossy, generally blended, on the back and wings compact. Wings longish, third and fourth quills longest. Tail much rounded, of twelve decurved stiff feathers, worn by rubbing to an acute, ragged point. Palpebral region bare.