344 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bim to move about between the ridges and dig awaj beneath the loose 

 scales to his heart's content. He is probably capable of spending more 

 time on a single tree than any of the others of his family. After hav- 

 ing finished with the trunk he will carefully go over each branch from 

 tip to base, never hurrying, but acting as if he knew that he had the 



Red-headed Woodpecker. 



whole of eternity to do it in, and perfectly contented to spend half 

 an hour on a sj^ace that he could cover with one of his wings. He 

 is usually accompanied by other birds, for birds are not scattered 

 evenly about the woods at any season of the year, but more in com- 

 pany or flocks of half a dozen or a dozen different species, brought 

 together apparently for society's sake, and following any temporary 

 leader from tree to tree. 



Downy, however, seldom quits his work when the others see fit 

 to depart, but keeps pegging away by himself until other birds come 

 up, attracted, I fancy, by his rapping, to linger about in his com- 

 pany for a few minutes, and then off again as the whim seizes them. 

 Like the majority of birds, the downy woodpecker is apt to be more in 

 evidence during the spring and fall migration than at other times, 

 but is never entirely absent, and often appears more than usually 

 numerous immediately after a cold wave in midwinter. At this 

 season he slee])s snugly in a hole cut out of the wood for the occa- 

 sion, and evidently finds the getting up in the morning the most 

 disagreeable part of it, for he seldom shows himself until long 

 after the sun has begun to melt away the frost from the south side of 

 the trees. He is most active now at midday, frequenting south- 

 ern hillsides, where the air is warmest and the brown leaves show 

 between the drifts, and where he is sure to have the company 



