BIRD ACTORS AND TIIKA'I HKS '2t;J 



pcratc jerk pulls ;iL it. It (Iocs not hiid/^c, hut the 

 sharp edges cut his neck ahnost througli, and he 

 falls a vietini to liis own neat atjd praetieal ways! 



Woodpeckers are fond of |)hiying lii(k'-and-seek 

 with eaeh other and with |)eoj)le. Tliis game, how- 

 ever, is not all s})oi'l, hut ])artly lor their protec- 

 tion. If one is ahu"ni(;(l, or not just sure wlio his 

 visitors are, he ho])s around l)ehin(l a hraru;h or tree- 

 trunk and peeps out to see who a[)[)roaches. I have 

 seen at least six to ten red-lieaded vvood])eekers 

 j)laying hide-and-seek on a dead pine-tree in 'lY'xas. 

 They dodged each othei-, flof)ped their pretty wings 

 and lay close to the hark, and il seen, i\cw away to 

 a near-hy tree to continue the game. Such games 

 tend to train the actors for sell'-derence in eas(; of 

 danger. 



The red-heads have a cousin, the downy, who is 

 the best known of all the woodpeckers. He is a 

 cheery little actor, and the greatest friend of man- 

 kind. He loves company, and his mannei- of dress 

 is most charming. He wears a coat of hla(;k and 

 white on his wings, arid a hlaek caj) trimmed in red. 

 Of his thirty-six varieties of cousins in America, he 

 is the most industrious, and possi})ly the most tal- 

 ented, lie is capable of running a successful busi- 

 ness besides his work as an actor. This business is 

 that of raising bugs! Yes, he runs a bug factory. 



